Harold and I met in person briefly on the floor of the very first Podcast Expo in Ontario, California, about a year later. If I recall correctly, the guy had ridden a bus — no doubt several buses – to get to that first international gathering of new media creators. We chatted for a bit, exchanged business cards (mine were freebies from Instaprint, his were printed from Avery cardstock — DIY gets it done, yo!) and parted company. Of course, as is the Way of the Internet, we’ve remained in touch through the various social networks as they rise and fall.

Last month, my girlfriend was ego-surfing me (because she loves me!) and found this:

Now, as nice as it is that Harold is buying “Brave Men Run – A Novel of the Sovereign Era” and other e-books I wrote (or edited / released), what’s truly touching is what he said about our friendship, and the idea that supporting my work is an extension of that friendship. This video gives me a little hitch in my throat, I tell you what. Thanks, Harold, truly.

A Reminder For Authors and Other Creatives

If there’s a difference between the person you are to your friends and the person you are to your fans, you will miss opportunities to have more of both. That simple law is at the core of personal branding, platform building, or whatever phrase is in vogue when I write, or you read, this.

Be human. That’s it!

Your Own Examples

Authors and other creative people, please share your own stories of the blurring line between friends and fans in the comments!

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• Your Paintings, an online repository of the art of the UK
• “Distrust That Particular Flavor,” the collected essays of William Gibson
• The Beginning of the End of the 9 to 5 Workday
• Patton Oswalt hijacks a Harlan Ellison interview
  
• Omniglot – the online encyclopedia of writing systems and languages
• The Written Word, a five-part series from Melvin Bragg’s excellent “In Our Time” podcast
• William Wallace Cook’s 1,462 possible novel plots, conveniently archived on the Gordian Plot wiki
• Not for nothing: the fans are outraged when George Lucas messes with his own material… but Lucas doesn’t mind when the fans do it. Take note, fanboys… and enjoy this brilliant example of remix culture.
  
• Cory Doctorow reviews Tim Powers’ “Last Call,” which just happens to be one of my favorite books of all time.
• Stanford’s Collection of 8,000 Dime Novels and Story Papers
• Clay Shirky explains why SOPA is a bad idea
  
  Download link
• Folklorist Alan Lomax’ Collection Soon To Be Available Digitally

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The SOPA Blackout Protest

On January, 18, 2012, I participated in a website blackout to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act, the Protect-IP act, and similar legislation. A big chunk of the Internet (the World Wide Web, technically) joined me. The point? Turn our sites off for a day while providing resources for United States citizens to contact their elected officials to voice their opposition to these and similar legislation. Sure, when this post first goes live, most everyone reading it will know what I’m talking about, but a year — heck, eight months — from now that little bit of verbose exposition will be necessary, believe me.

I went a bit farther than just replacing my website with a declaration, a form, and an informative video. I decided to simulate what it would be like if my entire presence on the Internet was blocked: e-mail, Facebook, Skype, etc. Since this is an issue that affects all citizens of the United States of America, I went black for as long as it was January 18th somewhere in my country and her territories… over thirty hours.

Even though it meant missing (deleting as if I’d never received them, in fact) potentially important e-mails, I held to the blackout. Granted, my little civil action didn’t have the same financial impact as was undoubtedly suffered by sites like BoingBoing or Tucows, but meant something to me. The importance of a cause is, in part, measured by the sacrifice one is willing to make.

The Point

Some people didn’t get the point of blacking out one’s site. Indeed, valuable public resources like Craig’s List and Wikipedia actually took some heat for denying their mission and hurting their users for a day. I saw comments from folks who didn’t see the value of the blackout at all.

The point was not just to simulate the chilling effect of SOPA or PIPA. Most sites didn’t only disappear. Like mine, they displayed information about why SOPA, PIPA and similar legislation is a bad idea for the Internet and for culture… and they included a way for United States citizens to contact their elected officials to urge them to drop support for the bills. A demonstration and protest, to be sure… but activism as well.

I was disappointed that sites like Mashable and Lifehacker wasted no time invalidating the point being made by Wikipedia in particular, by shamelessly providing how-to articles on ways to circumvent Wikipedia’s blackout. In other words, missing the point. Disappointing, but the kind of thing I’d expect from Mashable… and I guess I should have expected from Lifehacker.

Boo and hiss, Mashable and Lifehacker. Not for missing the point, for I’m certain your editors are smarter than that. No, you lose my respect because you got the point and chose self-interest instead.

Other Disappointments

Some people and groups who make their living being creative in part or in whole thanks to their freedom to use the Internet any way they like were conspicuously silent regarding their position on SOPA and PIPA. Independent authors who used the blackout as an opportunity to make jokes. Transmedia pioneers who (despite my direct and willfully obnoxious prodding) apparently passed on the opportunity to publicly take a stand opposite the entertainment companies that often pay their bills. Most podcasters. And so on. It was sad to see.

Not Over Yet

The Protect-IP Act (PIPA) goes up for a vote on January 24, 2012. SOPA will be back up for discussion in February. While political support for these acts has certainly eroded in the last few days, they are far from dead. Don’t become complacent. And please don’t be afraid to take a stand.

One Personal Take-Away

I wasn’t on Twitter, Facebook or Google Plus in a personal capacity during the blackout and, while it was strange now and then, I didn’t really miss it. More importantly, I deleted unread every e-mail sent to my personal and MWS Media accounts and the world kept turning.

In fact, I’m going to experiment with an e-mail policy of sorts. Effective immediately, I’m going to check e-mail just three times a day. If there’s anything that can’t wait more than a few hours for my response, there are other ways to get in touch with me, after all. I wonder if I’ll feel lighter? I’ll give it a try for a bit and let you know how that turns out.

How Was Your January 18th?

What do you think about the blackouts to support awareness of, and demonstrate against, SOPA, PIPA and similar legislation? Let me know in the comments!

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In order to demonstrate the stifling potential of SOPA, PIPA and similar legislation, I will not be accessible on the Internet during the blackout period of January 17, 2012 at 8:00 PM Pacific Time through January 19, 2012 at 2:59:59 AM Pacific Time.

• E-mails sent to me will be permanently deleted, unread.
• Twitter direct messages will be ignored and deleted.
• Facebook communications will be deleted and ignored.
• Everything directed to my personal Internet communication channels (including MWS Media) will be ignored.

In short, it will be like I do not exist on the Internet.

That’s what could happen if the draconian, liberty-denying measures found in SOPA, PIPA and similar legislation become law. I will not be passive in my opposition to these acts.

I hope you’ll take action, too. On the Tuesday 24th January 2012, the United States Senate is scheduled to vote on SOPA. If you’re a citizen of the United States of America, please use the following form today to contact your representative and let them know your views. Remember, the legislators serve to be your voice in the government. Make your voice heard. Together, we can make a difference and stop SOPA / PIPA and similar legislation from ever endangering commerce, free speech and the Internet as we know it.

Want to learn more about SOPA, PIPA and similar legislation? Watch the following video:

Thank you,

Matthew Wayne Selznick
Creator

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• The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick
• The Diagnosis
• Free eBook: ‘John W. Campbell, Collected Editorials From Analog’ Selected by Harry Harrison
• By 2020, Independent Workers Will Be the Majority
• Serialized E-Books
• The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov – Radio Drama
• Louis C.K. Live At the Beacon Theater
• How To Make, Print, and Bind Your Own Books
• Thinking Time
• Medieval Names Archive
• DotEPub Webpage to E-Book Converter
• How To Flunk Social Media + Lose Me As A Potential True Fan (But You Know I Love You)
• 2061
• The Erosion In The Paid Media Pyramid by Seth Godin

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You will decide the future direction — if any — of Writing “Light.” Please click through to comment on YouTube or in the comments section of this site. Thanks!

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“Every Breath You Take” by P. G. Holyfield

P. G. Holyfield is the author of the award-winning fantasy mystery “Murder at Avedon Hill,” a podcaster, and speaks at many conventions in the science fiction and new media fandom community. His “Every Breath You Take” has the distinction of being the single longest piece of Sovereign Era fiction to date (not counting “Brave Men Run — A Novel of the Sovereign Era.”)

“Every Breath You Take” is a tale of teen aggression and obsession. Chris has it bad for Stacey… but in a world where thousands of people possess unique, incredible powers, what exactly stands in the way of Chris getting what he wants..?

Get “Every Breath You Take” for the Nook or Kindle, or buy the epub / Mobi bundle right here… and be sure to visit P. G. Holyfield’s own site for more from him!

“I Wear My Sunglasses At Night” by J. R. Blackwell

J. R. Blackwell is an author, editor, photographer, game designer and seven or eight other things I probably forgot to mention. On the occasion of her first contribution to the Sovereign Era storyworld, she gives us a new take on a fantasy, horror and supernatural fiction staple with the short story “I Wear My Sunglasses At Night.”

Jackie hasn’t been comfortable in her own body for years, especially since that body started changing in ways that both terrify and thrill her. Now that her secret threatens to be revealed, will she find peace with herself… or be isolated from all that she knows and loves?

You can find “I Wear My Sunglasses At Night” at Barnes and Noble for their Nook platform, at Amazon.com for their Kindle tablet, and right here in a bundle that includes both epub and Mobi formats. Don’t forget to check out J. R. Blackwell’s site, too!

These Stories And More In One Anthology

These two stories — as well as works by J. C. Hutchins, Mur Lafferty, Nathan Lowell, Matt Wallace and Jared Axelrod, and topped off by a gorgeous cover by noted gaming industry artist Jeff Himmelman — are available in paperback and e-book formats as part of “The Sovereign Era: Year One.” So if you’d rather order the whole meal instead of nibbling a la cart, you can!

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The site takes us from the moment Tom Solomon, played by Jason Segel of “The Muppets,” “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “How I Met Your Mother”
fame, proposes to Violet Barnes (Emily Blunt of “Sunshine Cleaning,” “Charlie Wilson’s War” and “The Devil Wears Prada”) right up to the opening day of “The Five-Year Engagement” on April 27, 2012.

Each week will see a few new blog posts, including video blogs from Tom / Jason. For added verisimilitude, each post includes comments from the rest of the characters in the film, and visitors are invited to play along and leave their own comments on the Guest Book.

Using WordPress As A Platform For Transmedia Storytelling

Taken as a whole, as the experience of Tom and Violet.com roles out over the coming months, it will act as both a prequel of sorts and as a parallel story to the film.

“If there were such a thing a method-acting-via-technology, “The Five-Year Engagement” would really take the cake!” — Huffington Post

Tom and Violet.com is testament to how existing tools — coupled with some creative problem solving, highly creative writers and artists, and a willing client — can be used to create compelling branded storytelling. I’m proud of this one!

I enjoyed the challenge of creating a custom WordPress site designed not to be a blog in the traditional sense… but to present pre-conceived blog-like content. While the site uses pre-existing plugins and a commercial theme framework, I had to employ a great deal of customization and craft a unique child theme.

What can I do for you?

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No-Stress Upgrades

In truth, upgrading WordPress is a pretty painless task these days. Still, if you’re not comfortable handling the more technical, under-the-hood responsibilities that come with running your own WordPress site (or maybe you just can’t be bothered) you might be putting off this and other necessary upgrades. That’s a bad idea, though, and here’s why: since the WordPress platform is insanely popular (15% of the most popular sites on the web use it!) it’s a pretty big target for crackers and malware bots out to cause mischief. It’s a kind of arms race between the bad guys and the developers of WordPress, and if you’re not running the latest version, well, you’re taking an unnecessary risk.

So do those upgrades! Or… let me do them for you!

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Before long, though, I had to ask myself: who gives a shit? It’s a non-issue.

To both genre fans and creators who are offended that the best of their works are not considered literature, and those who turn their backs on genre works while refusing to recognize the genre tropes in many literary works… I’d like to suggest that you both need to deal with larger issues of insecurity, or just admit that you’re barking for the sake of making noise.

As always, your thoughts are welcome in the comments.

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• Life began with a planetary mega-organism
• Accompl.sh
• The Cognitive Benefits of Chewing Gum
• The Cult of Done Manifesto
• Brian Greene’s The Fabric of the Cosmos
• Seven Free Tools for Creating Your Own Fonts
• First Results of Global Coworking Survey
• 10 reasons why pursuing your creative work is actually highly productive (+ not selfish or self-indulgent)
• Time Tree — The Timescale of Life
• William Gibson, The Art of Fiction No. 211

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My irritation on this front has been growing for the last two months. Therefore, here comes a rant, conveniently delivered in easily-digestible, search-engine friendly blog post list format.

Ready? Here are…

Three Great Ways To Kill The Social In Social Networking

• Automated Direct Messages To Twitter Followers
• Spam and Ban Forum Posts
• Facebook Like Exchanges

Automated Direct Messages To Twitter Followers

When I follow back someone who decided to follow me on Twitter, I personally post a little message to all my other followers welcoming the new person. It goes like this: “Welcome new twitterpal @your_name_here!” I do this because it lets my modest, audience of 1,700 or so see that someone new has joined the crowd, and it lets those followers potentially check out and maybe also follow the new person. In other words, when you come to the party, you get introduced around.

Unfortunately, more often than not, when someone acknowledges that I’ve followed them, I get a direct message — a note that only I can see — and it usually says something like this: “Thanks for following me! It’s great to meet you. Be sure to check out http://buy.myproductquick.ly!”

The insincerity, and impersonal nature, of the salutation is only exceeded by the level of audacity in the sales pitch… never mind the insult delivered when they have a robot respond to my personal gesture of connection. What’s worse is when they see my open, public acknowledgement of our new connection and finally get around to doing one of their own, making their initial automated direct message even more of a social misstep. You’ve been caught out, social media killer!

Spam and Run Forum Posts

Imagine you have a bunch of friends over for dinner and, somehow, a perfect stranger ends up at the table as well. In the spirit of community and open-mindedness, you welcome them and give them a platform to present their opinion and tell you about themselves.

Then, the first thing out of their mouth is an impassioned invitation to you to exchange your attention, time and / or money for the “high definition sunglasses” they’re so desperate to unload.

How quickly would you show them the door? How much of your boot would be up their ass when you do?

That’s what it’s like when you post in an online forum specifically to pitch your website, product, or Clickbank three-page, fifty dollar “e-book” on how to sell three page e-books for fifty dollars. Not only will you and your post be shown the door with a decisive delete-and-ban, anyone who read your post will never, ever, ever trust anything you do or say online. Moreover, some folks are very efficient at spreading the word about this kind of bad behavior… and their social networks are much bigger than yours. You better believe it. Caught again, social media killer!

Facebook Like Exchanges

It’s no secret that the number of Facebook “Likes” on your brand or product page can be converted in some mystical, poorly defined and barely quantifiable fashion into real money. Since “Likes” are money, at least in the hipster sense of the word, we should all do everything we can to get that number up up up, right? And a quick way to do that is to get together in a big group and “Like” each other’s pages, right? Awesome!

Bullshit.

I’ve seen this tactic suggested numerous times, and worse, I’ve seen dozens and dozens of people buy into it. I’m sure they have thousands and thousands of “Likes” on their Facebook pages. Unfortunately, it’s the social networking equivalent of photoshopping a giant crowd into images of that press conference you held in a rented conference room at the Holiday Inn — the one attended by your in-laws, co-workers and someone on the No One Cares Examiner beat.

Look: there is real value in “Likes.” You can learn the demographics of your audience and take that information to target and improve your product or service. In your “Like” audience you have a group of people who are already pre-disposed to support your endeavor, be it monetarily or through evangelism.

Which is why “Like” exchanges between Facebook page runners who otherwise don’t care about each other at all are monumentally stupid. What good is a bunch of “Likes” if they don’t represent real people truly interested in what you have to offer? By participating in quid pro quo “Like” exchanges, all you’re doing is muddying your data and diluting the value of your brand. This time, you’re not just a social media killer… you’re a social media suicide.

Super-Secret Number One Master Class Top Trick Of Social Media Masterminds REVEALED!

Anyone who spends eight hundred words moaning about the problem without presenting a solution is to be questioned. So here it is, the One Right Thing that will make you a master of social networking both on the Internet and in the Real World.

Be Human.

What does that mean?

If you don’t know — if you don’t really, truly know — then there’s no hope for you. Keep doing what you’ve been doing, and best of luck.

The rest of you — hello, nice to meet you. I look forward to engaging with you and getting to know you. Let’s start off the conversation… in the comments!

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This time around, we finish up issue number eight with the “surprise extra” story (not much of a surprise if you happened to, you know, read the cover the comicbook), “Spider-Man Tackles the Human Torch!” Since there’s only five pages of story in this back-up feature, the splash page isn’t the usual “movie poster” variety and things get going straight away. We will, too!

Synopsis

Spider-Man is literally hanging out, somewhat creepily concealed behind a wall, across the street from the suburban home of Doris Evans, the girlfriend of Johnny Storm (otherwise known as the pyromorphic super-hero, the Human Torch.) Spider-Man’s intentions are… disturbing:

While I’m in the neighborhood, I’ll pay her a visit and show her what she’s missing by not dating Spider-Man!

So… how is it that Spider-Man knows where Doris Evans lives? Has he been stalking her..? Isn’t he interested in Betty Brant? What the hell..?

Anyway, while Spider-Man is creeping around, Johnny Storm arrives in a fancy sports car. It seems there’s going to be a little party. Once all the kids are inside, Spider-Man slinks outside the window like a peeping Tom. He sees Johnny inside, making groovy shapes in the air out of his flame, and Spider-Man can’t stand it. His thoughts reveal that he thinks Johnny is “a flaming phony” for showing off.

Don’t forget, a few issues ago, the amazing Spider-Man was so moved by an inspirational speech given by the Human Torch he went out of his way to find him and shake his hand in gratitude. What caused the extreme shift away from such a powerful respect?

Jealous and spiteful, Spider-Man makes an aerodynamically fit giant bat out of webbing and tosses it into the house, where the Human Torch is using his “infra-red glowing power” to light up the go-go dancing gals at the party. The kids freak out, but Johnny suspects something — and when he swats the bat with a pillow, it collapses, draping him in sticky webbing.

Enter Spider-Man to take the credit. Everything about him — his tone, his body language — reeks of arrogance. The kids are instantly, vocally against him… and Spider-Man’s reaction is to take a bow and invite himself to the party.

Johnny Storm tells him very directly that he’s not invited. Spider-Man compares him to Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson, which is apparently what serves as fighting words for Johnny. He flames on, and the two of them take to the skies, eventually settling on a nearby beach to duke it out.

Spider-Man starts off strong by throwing two big web-buckets full of sand into the Human Torch, but it isn’t long before he’s dangerously outclassed by his fiery rival. Dodging buzz-saws and nets made of flame, Spider-Man thinks:

Whew! I guess I’d better just call it a draw and cut out of here! I didn’t expect that human matchstick to get so angry!!

Yeah, um, when you’re getting your tights roasted by the other guy and you’re thinking of running away… that’s not something you can call “a draw.”

Before Spider-Man can get to his feet, he looks up and sees… Mister Fantastic! The Invisible Girl! The rocky Thing! Hey hey, the entire Fantastic Four are here! What are they doing on this beach randomly chosen by the Human Torch and the amazing Spider-Man? Who cares? Don’t ask silly questions, man!

Mister Fantastic graciously extends a hand to help Spider-Man up… and gets webbed up for his trouble. Paranoid ass that he is (at least in this story!) Spider-Man freaks out, thinking they’re all there to laugh at him. He declares that he’ll “clobber you all!” and proceeds to try, despite Mister Fantastic’s exasperated plea:

No one’s laughing at you, you fool! Stop!! Don’t force us to get rough!

Right before the Thing lays what would undoubtedly be a crippling haymaker on Spider-Man, the Invisible Girl yanks him out of the way and pins him to the ground. She insists Spider-Man and the Human Torch bury the hatchet, but neither one will have anything to do with that. Spider-Man slinks off, but not before whining that Sue Storm, the Invisible Girl, is the only thing good about the Fantastic Four.

Thoughts On Issue Eight Part Two of The Amazing Spider-Man

Wow. Just… wow.

In the last installment, I called “The Terrible Threat of the Living Brain!” essentially a filler story. But this… this! This is pure filler, and even more poorly done.

The Spider-Man we’re presented with here bears very little resemblance to the likable scamp we saw in issue number seven. This guy is a real whiny jerk — much more like the presentation of the character in the first few issues of the comicbook. He’s narcissistic, arrogant, full of entitlement issues and prone to angry tantrums when he’s offended or doesn’t get his way. What happened?

Say it with me, gang: this story is filler… and worse, it’s likely filler that had been sitting on the shelf for months, so it’s way out of continuity. Let’s just pretend it didn’t happen. Call it an issue of What If…? “What if Spider-Man Used His Powers To Stalk Women and Pick Fights He Can’t Possibly Win..?”

Granted, they probably didn’t care so much about such things in 1963, but as creators interested in crafting internally consistent and durable storyworlds for our story franchises, we should take note. Sure, if you’re creating any kind of serial narrative, circumstances might demand you throw a little filler / stop-gap content in the mix now and then. Even so, make sure you give that content — stuff that may have been created long ago, or by someone outside of the usual circle of creators — a once-over to make sure it slots neatly into the current story. Or, heck, if you can’t do that, frame it with a dream sequence or something so no one takes it seriously or wonders why you don’t care about your property any more.

I’m not so big on the current monthly comicbooks these days, but maybe you can tell me: does Marvel or DC get away with such carelessness anymore? Or is everything planned out so far in advance in this era of mega-arcs that there’s no room for filler? Let me know in the comments!

The Amazing Spider-Man number eight part two
“Spider-Man Tackles the Human Torch!”
Cover Date: December, 1963
Script: Stan Lee
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: Steve Ditko
Letters: S. Rosen

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“Dear Mr. Donner” by J.C. Hutchins

J. C. Hutchins, the groundbreaking podcaster, author, screenwriter and transmedia creator, gives us an epistolary short story featuring a young girl on the edge of womanhood and the precipice of disaster in “Dear Mr. Donner.”

The citizens of Pinnacle, Tennessee, called Mary Leigh Hudson “water witch,” but they respected her abilities as a dowser… until Declaration Day, when William Karl Donner revealed the existence of metahumans and unknowingly dragged the bigotry of a small town to the surface. Now Mary’s alone with her elemental, darkly loyal, and terrible dangerous only friend. Will Mary’s letter be received at the Donner Institute for Sovereign Studios before the situation snowballs out of control?

Get “Dear Mr. Donner” for the Nook or Kindle, or buy the epub / Mobi bundle right here… and be sure to visit J. C. Hutchins’ own site for more from him!

“Mouse Mousey” by Nathan Lowell

Nathan Lowell began his climb to the top of the indie author ladder with a refreshingly grounded story of merchant marines in space. For “Mouse Mousey,” he’s got both feet on the Earth of the Sovereign Era, and even though there are some overtones of humor in this tale of domestic tension, the seriousness of the tale is never buried too deep.

On a hot August afternoon, two boorish drunks become convinced they have special powers when the Donner Institute for Sovereign Studies comes to call. But is the most special person in the house the one who always seems beneath notice..?

Grab “Mouse Mousey” for your Nook or Kindle, or you can get the epub / Mobi bundle through this site. To keep up with Nathan Lowell’s novels, short stories and audio work, click through to his own home on the web.

More From The Sovereign Era

My Sovereign Era storyworld is ripe for storytelling… and you’re invited to possibly contribute to the canon and maybe make a little money to boot! Click to find out more about that and all the other content set in the Sovereign Era.

Coming soon: stand-alone e-book short stories from P. G. Holyfield and J. R. Blackwell!

Matthew Wayne Selznick - Telling stories with words, music, pictures and people. Seeing this somewhere other than mattselznick.com? Please click through to comment directly on the post!

“You Must Be My Lucky Star” is one of the short stories featured in the anthology “The Sovereign Era: Year One.” Now, it’s the first of those stories offered on its own in epub and Mobi formats available for purchase here, as well as in the Amazon Kindle and Barnes and Noble Nook stores.

If you’re a Mur Lafferty completist but don’t have / want / need “The Sovereign Era: Year One” anthology, your lucky day has arrived! Purchase “You Must Be My Lucky Star” for just $0.99.

About “You Must Be My Lucky Star”

“You Must Be My Lucky Star” introduces us to two young girls, best friends Alice and Meredith, on Declaration Day — the day individuals with remarkable powers made themselves known and forever changed the course of human destiny.

Alice has always been content to live in Meredith’s shadow, but when a crisis threatens her friend, Alice discovers there’s more to Meredith’s brilliance than she ever dreamed.

More To Come

Other short stories from “The Sovereign Era: Year One” will be released as stand-alone e-books in the weeks to come, including works by J. C. Hutchins, Nathan Lowell, P. G. Holyfield, and J. R. Blackwell. Each tale adds to the mosaic alternative history that is the Sovereign Era storyworld.

Chronicle the Sovereign Era

Are you a creator? Find out how you might contribute to the Sovereign Era storyworld and maybe I’ll be announcing the release of your work before long!

Matthew Wayne Selznick - Telling stories with words, music, pictures and people. Seeing this somewhere other than mattselznick.com? Please click through to comment directly on the post!

Today I learned that Bill Mantlo has been physically and cognitively crippled with brain damage since being run over by a hit-and-run driver almost twenty years ago. He can barely talk, or use his hands. His short term memory is nearly non-existent.

In other words, the man whose stories inspired me and challenged me, and in no small way led me to tell my own… is silenced.

It breaks my heart. And it makes me angry. Read the article in LifeHealthPro and learn how CIGNA in particular and the state of health care in the United States in general has made Bill Mantlo’s quality of life so much less than it should be.

I will always support every person’s right to receive quality health and wellness care for as long as they need it, regardless of their ability to pay. It’s one of the few issues I see in black and white. Stories like this are why.

It just breaks my heart. It makes me sick.

Visit Sleeping Giant Creations for ways you can directly help Bill Mantlo with his recovery and improve his quality of life. Please also visit and support The Hero Initiative to help provide for ailing and aging comicbook creators.

Matthew Wayne Selznick - Telling stories with words, music, pictures and people. Seeing this somewhere other than mattselznick.com? Please click through to comment directly on the post!

If you’re thinking about purchasing an e-book reader / tablet either for yourself or as a holiday gift for someone else, please do so through the links on this page — I’ll earn a small percentage from each sale, and that will help finance (read: make possible) my own holiday gift-giving. Here are some of your choices in the e-book reader / media tablet arena this year:

The Newest E-Reader Tablets

The Barnes and Noble Nook Tablet

The Nook Tablet is an HD movie-watching, game-playing, music-listening and oh yeah, full color e-book reading machine! Click through to learn more and to buy the Nook Tablet from Barnes and Noble.

The Amazon Kindle Fire

The Kindle Fire is the hot (see what I did there?) new media device from Amazon.com. Watch, read, and listen to everything... with free storage for everything you buy from Amazon.com. Click through to learn more and to buy the Amazon Kindle Fire.

The Apple iPad2

Apple's iPad2 is the latest and greatest iteration of the popular tablet media device. Click through to learn more and to buy an IPad2 from Apple.

E-Readers With Color, Keyboards and More

The Barnes and Noble Nook Color

The Nook Color from Barnes and Noble is a touchscreen full color e-reader with a web browser and a number of apps -- it's practically a tablet! Click through to learn more and to buy the Nook Color from Barnes and Noble.

The Amazon Kindle DX

The Amazon Kindle DX is designed for comfortable reading of larger items like magazines and newspapers. With its free worldwide 3G access, you will never be away from your media! Click through to learn more and to buy the Amazon Kindle DX from Amazon.com.

The Amazon Kindle Keyboard

The Amazon Kindle Keyboard has all the great features of the Kindle with the added benefit of a physical keyboard. Available in Wireless and 3G versions. Click through to learn more and to buy the Amazon Kindle Keyboard from Amazon.com.

Inexpensive E-Reader Tablets

The Barnes and Noble Nook Simple Touch

The Barnes and Noble Nook Simple Touch offers an easy to use e-book reader at a reasonable price. This Kindle competitor gets a lot of praise! Click through to learn more and to buy the Nook Simple Touch from Barnes and Noble.

The Amazon Kindle Touch

The Amazon Kindle Touch offers the familiar Kindle dependability with a handy multi-touch touchscreen interface. Click through to learn more and to buy the Kindle Touch from Amazon.com.

The Amazon Kindle

The E-book reader that started a revolution is more inexpensive than ever. A great way to introduce someone to the convenience and fun of e-books. Click through to learn more and to buy the Amazon Kindle from Amazon.com.

Books For Your New E-Book Reader Tablet

Naturally, you’re going to need something to read on your new Kindle Fire, Nook Tablet, or iPad2. Allow me to make a few suggestions!

Books and Stories From The Sovereign Era

The Sovereign Era is my storyworld setting wherein the arrival of powerful metahumans in the middle of the 1980′s changes the course of human destiny.

• “Brave Men Run – A Novel of the Sovereign Era” by Matthew Wayne Selznick
• “Brenhurst’s Tale – Another View of ‘Brave Men Run’” by Matthew Wayne Selznick
• “The Sovereign Era: Year One” edited by Matthew Wayne Selznick and featuring stories by Mur Lafferty, Jared Axelrod, Nathan Lowell, P. G. Holyfield, J. R. Blackwell, Matt Wallace and J. C. Hutchins
• “The World Revolves Around You” by Matthew Wayne Selznick
• “You Must Be My Lucky Star” by Mur Lafferty (This short story is also included in “The Sovereign Era: Year One”)

Other Short Stories

These two are both love stories, of a sort. One features a giant monster stomping all over a Southern California beach town; the other, a creepy wanna-be magician out to ruin the hero’s day. Enjoy!

• “Reggie vs. Kaiju Storm Chimera Wolf” by Matthew Wayne Selznick
• “Cloak” by Matthew Wayne Selznick

Happy Holidays!

I know you’ll enjoy your new e-book reader / tablet… or, even better, you’ll enjoy the happy look on the face of the person who receives an e-book reader from you! I have a Nook Color myself and get a lot of use out of it… though I do have my eye on that Kindle Fire..! Which e-book reader or tablet are you pining for or planning to give this holiday season, and why? Share in the comments!

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]]> http://www.mattselznick.com/2011/11/10/will-you-buy-a-tablet-e-book-reader-this-holiday-season/feed/ 0 http://www.mattselznick.com/2011/11/07/worldbuilding-for-writers-number-seven-m-o-o-n-that-spells-moon/ http://www.mattselznick.com/2011/11/07/worldbuilding-for-writers-number-seven-m-o-o-n-that-spells-moon/#comments Mon, 07 Nov 2011 22:12:10 +0000 Matthew Selznick http://www.mattselznick.com/?p=6158 So far in Worldbuilding For Writers, Gamers and other Creatives, we’ve covered nearly all the astrophysical aspects of creating a realistic Earth-like planet for your storyworld setting. In this installment, let’s put a little bling in your world’s sky with the addition of a moon. Why A Moon? Recall that the purpose of this series [...]

Matthew Wayne Selznick - Telling stories with words, music, pictures and people. Seeing this somewhere other than mattselznick.com? Please click through to comment directly on the post!

]]> So far in Worldbuilding For Writers, Gamers and other Creatives, we’ve covered nearly all the astrophysical aspects of creating a realistic Earth-like planet for your storyworld setting. In this installment, let’s put a little bling in your world’s sky with the addition of a moon.

Why A Moon?

Recall that the purpose of this series is to create a world capable of supporting life as we know it. Getting from a world with no life to one teeming with a global biosphere that actually changes the chemical composition of the planet’s geographic and atmospheric properties is a long, complicated process that science still doesn’t completely understand. That said, one thing we can confidently state is that life began in the sea… and if not for the moon, that life would not have been pressured — by way of natural selection — to populate the land. It’s all to do with the transitory nature of tidepools… and the gravitational force of the planetary satellite that drives those tides.

Back in Worldbuilding For Writers, Gamers and Other Creatives number four, we talked a bit about the connection between a planet’s speed of rotation and the long-term viability for the development and survival of life. In short, a planet that rotates too quickly will have powerful storms that wouldn’t be conducive to early, burgeoning life.

Fortunately, the gravitational interaction between a large moon and its planet actually acts to gradually slow the rotation of both bodies. With the Earth and the Moon, the Earth’s “drag” on the Moon has long since slowed the Moon’s rotation until the time it takes to rotate on its axis is exactly the same as the time it takes to orbit the planet. The result? The Moon always shows the same face to the surface of the Earth. The Moon is slowing the Earth’s rotation, too. Even though it’s a much slower process, the Moon had billions of years to mellow the Earth’s rotation before life emerged. It’s possible life would not have developed on Earth at all without the Moon there to slow the Earth’s rotation and create an environment “gentle” enough to allow those early molecules to hang together.

Bottom line? Your Earth-like planet should have a moon… or moons! Besides, a moon bequeaths fun cultural elements to your world, as well… time keeping based on the moon’s phases, for example.

Orbital Considerations

There are two things that have to be worked out when creating your moon: the Roche limit, and tidal scaling.

The Roche Limit

The Roche limit is the minimum distance (measured between the centers of the planet and the moon) the moon can orbit without breaking up under gravitational / tidal forces. This will give you the absolute inner limit for your moon’s orbit around the planet.

To figure the Roche limit, we need the radius and density of the primary planet and the density of the moon. We know these things for the Earth and Moon, and so know the Roche limit for the Moon in orbit around the Earth is 18,235.5949 kilometers from the center of the Earth, or 11,857.5949 kilometers from the surface of the Earth. Since the Moon currently orbits at a distance of 384,399 kilometers, it’s in no danger of breaking up as a result of proximity to the Earth.

Let’s work out the Roche limit for the Shaper’s World’s moon, Tala.

Tala is a very small satellite — it has a radius of 243.125 kilometers (about the size of the state of Texas) and a density of 2.8 grams per cubic centimeter. Given Gundi-Fai’s (the Shaper’s World) radius of 6,243.2 kilometers and density of 5.4102 grams per cubic centimeter, the Roche’s limit for Tala orbiting Gundi-Fai is 18,841.1355 kilometers from the center of Gundi-Fai, or 12,597.9355 kilometers from the surface of Gundi-Fai.

Here’s how to figure out the Roche limit for your planet and moon:

The Roche limit in kilometers = planet’s radius in kilometers x the cube root of (the density of the planet / the density of the moon). The densities should be in grams per cubic centimeter.

Tidal Force and Tidal Lock

Tidal force — the effect of the difference in gravitational power across an object like your world — is the bulge on a planet’s surface (especially its oceans) caused by the proximity of the planet’s moon. Basically, the parts of the planet closest to the moon feel a stronger gravitational tug than the part of the planet farthest away from the moon. Given the mass of the moon and its distance from the planet, we can calculate the strength of the tidal force relative to the tidal force of the Moon on Earth.

Let’s look at Tala’s tidal effect on Gundi-Fai. First, we need to find Tala’s mass. We know it’s radius is 243.125 kilometers and its density is 2.8 grams per cubic centimeter. To find the mass of any spherical object, do the following:

Determine the volume, assuming the object is a sphere:

Volume = (4/4 * 3.141592653) * (radius^3)

For Tala: 60,166,845.267 cubic kilometers. In terms of Moon volume, that’s 0.0027 of the Moon. We’ll need that later.

Mass is determined by multiplying volume by density. We have to be working with the same scales, so let’s convert the density from grams per cubic centimeter to kilograms per cubic meter. That gives us 2,800 kilograms per cubic meter. Now it’s just simple multiplication:

Mass of Tala = 60,166,845.267 cubic kilometers * 2,800 kilograms per cubic meter = 168,467,167,000,000,000,000 kilograms. Put another way, Tala’s mass is equal to 0.0022 that of the Moon.

Tala orbits at a distance of just 51,200 kilometers from Gundi-Fai. That’s 0.1331 the distance of the Moon from the Earth. We now have enough information to measure Tala’s tide-raising force on Gundi Fai. Here’s how:

Tide raising force compared to Moon-Earth = Tala’s mass in Moon masses (.0022) / (Tala’s distance from Gundi-Fai as a percentage of the Moon’s distance from Earth (0.1331)^3 = 0.9701.

All other things being equal, Tala creates tides on Gundi-Fai 97% as strong as the tidal force the Moon exerts on Earth.

Swap Gundi-Fai’s mass (in Earth masses) for Tala’s, and we see that Gundi-Fai’s tidal force on Tala is 389.3737 times that of the Earth on the Moon.

The tidal force of the Earth on the Moon has resulted in the Moon’s rotation slowing to exactly the same time it takes for the Moon to orbit the Earth. The result of this “tidal lock” is that the Moon always shows the same face to the Earth. If your world’s tidal scaling force is anything more than 1, you can assume your moon is likewise locked to your planet.

Orbital Period

How long does it take your moon to orbit your planet? Assuming the moon and planet are not similarly sized, we can use the same formula we used to determine the orbital period of your planet around its star. We’ll need to do some converting, since the orbital formula for a planet around a star uses astronomical units for distance and solar masses for mass:

First, find the distance from the moon to the planet in AU by taking the kilometers and dividing by 149,598,000. For Tala, 51,200 / 149,598,000 = 0.0003422.

Next, take the mass of the planet in kilograms and divide it into 1,988,920,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, or 1.98892 × 10^30. For Gundi-Fai, this is 0.000002763.

To find the orbital period of your moon, find the square root of (orbital distance of the moon in AU^3) / mass of the planet in solar masses. For Tala, it looks like this:

(0.0003422^3 = 0.00000000004007) / 0.000002763 = 0.0000145023525

Square root of 0.0000145023525 = 0.003808 Earth years, or 1.3908 Earth days, or 33.2903 Earth hours.

Note that you’ll want this figure to be in local years (or days.) One Earth sidereal year is equal to 365.2563 days or 8742.2158 hours. A local sidereal year on Gundi-Fai is 358.6867 Earth days, or 8,584.9759 Earth hours. A local sidereal day on Gundi-Fai is 25.6382 Earth hours, so there are (8,584.9759 * 25.6382) 334.8509 local days in a local sidereal year.

If it takes 33.2903 Earth hours for Tala to orbit Gundi-Fai, that’s the same as (33.2903 / 25.6382) 1.2984 days. Tala orbits Gundi-Fai 257.895 times in a sidereal year. It’s a fast little bugger!

Your Moon From The Surface of Your World

The complicated orbital dance of your moon, as well as its size and distance, make for an interesting night sky for your planet and give your inhabitants lots of cultural fodder. Some of the things we can determine are the synodic period (the time between moonrises), the apparent size of the moon in the sky, and the phases of the moon.

Synodic Period

The time from moonrise to moonrise depends on how the planet’s rotation and the orbital period of the moon interact. The synodic period is to the moon and planet as the solar period is to the planet and the star.

The formula is straightforward:

Synodic Period = 1 / ((1 / Sidereal rotation period of the planet) – (1 / Sidereal orbital period of the moon))

For Tala, the synodic period is = (1 / 25.6382 Earth hours) – (1 / 33.2903 Earth hours) = 0.008965. 1 / 0.008965 = 111.5384 Earth hours, or every 4.3504 days. A Tala-rise every four and a third days is going to make for an interesting “lunar” calendar on Gundi-Fai, and will undoubtedly have implications for the culture and science of the natives.

Phases of the Moon

The appearance of your moon in your planet’s sky changes as the moon revolves around the planet. The “new moon,” when the moon is practically invisible in the sky, occurs when it is between your world and its star and the side of the moon illuminated by the star is facing away from the planet. The “full moon” happens when the moon is on the opposite side of the planet from the star and is fully illuminated. The “cresent moon,” when the moon appears to be half illuminated, occurs… you guessed it… at the halfway point between being fully illuminated and fully obscured.

You can calculate the time between full moons — the “month” — and by extension the times of all the other phases — with a formula very similar to that used to discover the synodic period:

((1 / sidereal orbital period of the moon) – (1 / sidereal orbital period of the planet)) = 1 / answer = month

The “month” for Tala is (1 / 1.3908 Earth days) – (1 / 358.6867 Earth days) = 0.7162 = 1 / 0.7162 = 1.3962 Earth days, or every 1.3034 local days. How this timetable mixes with a moonrise every 4.3504 days will make for an interesting calendar indeed!

The Size In The Sky

How big does the moon appear in the sky of your world? Measured in degrees (with 180 degrees across the bowl of the sky) the Moon on Earth is about .52 degrees in size. How big does your moon appear in your world’s sky? Here’s how to figure it out:

57.3 x (diameter / distance) = apparent size in degrees

For Tala, that would be (57.3 x (486.25 kilometers / 51,200 kilometers) = 0.54 degrees. Tala, though much smaller than Earth’s moon, orbits Gundi-Fai very closely… and so appears slightly larger in the sky than the Moon does on Earth.

Next

The astronomical section of Worldbuilding for Writers, Gamers and Other Creatives wraps up with a few odds and ends. After that, we’ll move down to the surface of your world and start exploring geology, climate and other fun stuff!

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]]> http://www.mattselznick.com/2011/11/07/worldbuilding-for-writers-number-seven-m-o-o-n-that-spells-moon/feed/ 2 http://www.mattselznick.com/2011/11/02/spider-face-lives/ http://www.mattselznick.com/2011/11/02/spider-face-lives/#comments Wed, 02 Nov 2011 22:31:44 +0000 Matthew Selznick http://www.mattselznick.com/?p=6146 Some weeks ago one evening, my girlfriend and I noticed a huge — I mean, like, thumb-sized — spider building a web just beyond the frame of the front porch. The little (okay, not so little) guy or girl was working very hard on that web, no doubt in anticipation of the moths and other [...]

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]]> Some weeks ago one evening, my girlfriend and I noticed a huge — I mean, like, thumb-sized — spider building a web just beyond the frame of the front porch. The little (okay, not so little) guy or girl was working very hard on that web, no doubt in anticipation of the moths and other flying critters soon to be attracted to our porch light. It was pretty nifty, and we watched for a little while.

Eventually, though, it became clear that the completed web would probably stretch right across the entryway of the porch — pretty much perfectly at face height. Since my girlfriend would be leaving for work very early the next morning, there was a risk she might walk right through it in her gotta-get-to-work-on-time haste. She knows herself very well, so she wrote a little sticky note to herself: a smiley face and the warning, “Spider face!” Because, y’know, she didn’t want to get a spider in the face.

I saw her note and figured that smiley face needed some legs. Eight, to be exact. Spider Face was born.

The note hung around long after our industrious spider-pal completed, used, and abandoned its web. We don’t know where that spider is now, but we wish it well. Yes, we’ve both seen “Charlotte’s Web,” but we’d rather not think about that, thanks very much. In fact, if you ask me, that spider has been immortalized, memorialized and celebratized… as Spider Face!

My girlfriend and I had been trying to think of ways to harness our mutual creativity, and this seemed like a fun way to do just that. A quick scan, some clean-up, and an hour or so of tinkering later, I had a range of products available — all bearing the cheery visage of Spider Face.

Spider Face For You!

Presenting the first products featuring Spider Face, brought to you from CMWS Designs (a division of MWS Media, don’tcha know) and Cafe Press! We earn no more than $2.00 on each item you buy so your price isn’t ridiculously high. See anything you like? Your purchases will help me and the girlfriend (the CMW in CMWS Designs) keep the bills paid and our pets fed — especially useful considering my newly underemployed state. Thanks in advance!

Is there something in the Cafe Press inventory you want emblazoned with the Spider Face design? Let me know in the comments!

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]]> http://www.mattselznick.com/2011/11/02/spider-face-lives/feed/ 2 http://www.mattselznick.com/2011/10/28/creator-matthew-wayne-selznick-status-update-autumn-2011/ http://www.mattselznick.com/2011/10/28/creator-matthew-wayne-selznick-status-update-autumn-2011/#comments Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:00:35 +0000 Matthew Selznick http://www.mattselznick.com/?p=6127 Hello and welcome to mattselznick.com! If you’ve come here after meeting me at the DIY Days conference in Los Angeles, it’s great to see you! Here’s what’s up with me right now: For Hire That’s the big news these days! For the last two years, I’ve been gainfully employed as an interactive marketing producer and [...]

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]]> Hello and welcome to mattselznick.com! If you’ve come here after meeting me at the DIY Days conference in Los Angeles, it’s great to see you!

Here’s what’s up with me right now:

For Hire

That’s the big news these days! For the last two years, I’ve been gainfully employed as an interactive marketing producer and writer for a small, award-winning Los Angeles agency. The regularity of incoming work when your clients are some of the biggest entertainment conglomerates in the world is surprisingly inconsistent, so I find myself laid off and available for freelance and contract work on a project to project or short- or long-term contract basis. What can I do for you? Check out my resume, learn more about my guiding ethics and standards, read some selected endorsements, explore my web hosting and WordPress services… and let’s talk!

The Sovereign Era: A Shared Storyworld

I bet you didn’t know how lucky you are for visiting today! This hasn’t been officially announced anywhere — in fact, you might say the whole project is in kind of a public alpha test at this stage — but let’s blow the roof off it anyway: I’ve opened my popular Sovereign Era universe (setting of the Parsec Award nominated, Amazon Top 100 book “Brave Men Run – A Novel of the Sovereign Era”) as a shared storyworld. As of yesterday, I’m accepting submissions for prose narratives (short stories, novelettes and novellas) that, if they are approved as canon, will be commercially released in a variety of media. Naturally, profits will be generously shared with creators. Learn more about The Sovereign Era storyworld, and come play in my sandbox!

Blog Series

I’m writing two blog series these days, both in line with my interest and passion in the development of storyworlds and modern mythology in the form of popular, and especially genre, fiction. Down the line, each series will be available in expanded form through a series of e-books, but for now, you can check them out right here:

Worldbuilding for Writers, Gamers and Other Creatives

In this blog series, I explore how to design a realistic, science-based fictional Earth-like planet from the top down. I won’t sugar-coat it for you: there’s some math! Still, it’s all pretty easily tackled if you have a decent spreadsheet application. Together, we’re working our way from the appropriate star for your planet to orbit, to the duration and distance of that orbit, to the length of day, gravity, atmosphere… and eventually we’ll suss out continents and climate, ecology and biomes, culture, technology, language, fantasy subjects like magic, gods and monsters, and the like.

By the time Worldbuilding for Writers, Gamers and Other Creatives is complete, I’ll have a comprehensive “subcreation” resource available for anyone interested in making sure their storyworld settings are internally consistent and carry the ring of truth. Check out Worldbuilding for Writers, Gamers and Other Creatives and please let me know what you think!

Reading The Amazing Spider-Man

Since 1963, issue after issue, Marvel Comics’ The Amazing Spider-Man has built a modern mythology with deeply rich, complex characters and story arcs. I wondered — what could we learn, what example could we study, if I attacked a critical review of every issue from number one through number five hundred?

That’s Reading The Amazing Spider-Man… a look at one of the most enduring American story franchises from the perspective of a storyteller. Every issue has lessons for us… and I have to admit, it’s just a heck of a lot of fun to re-visit these wonderful stories. Try Reading The Amazing Spider-Man with me!

Enough About Me – How About You?

That’s what’s up in my world — now, I want to know what you’re up to and what you’re about. Whether we just met at DIY Days or you’re a regular reader with something to hype, I want you to spill the beans, toot the horns and lay it all out for me (and my readers and followers) in the comments. Don’t be bashful! Let’s get to know each other… maybe before long we’ll be making something together.

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]]> http://www.mattselznick.com/2011/10/28/creator-matthew-wayne-selznick-status-update-autumn-2011/feed/ 4 http://www.mattselznick.com/2011/10/26/matthew-wayne-selznick-you-have-a-lot-going-on/ http://www.mattselznick.com/2011/10/26/matthew-wayne-selznick-you-have-a-lot-going-on/#comments Wed, 26 Oct 2011 22:02:32 +0000 Matthew Selznick http://www.mattselznick.com/?p=6068 “You have a lot going on.” I hear that from people, not infrequently. Recently, I’ve been hearing it from potential clients and employers when they encounter my site, see my resume, or even do a pre-interview Google search. At first, I took it as a compliment. Lately, though, I’m hearing a little hint of misgiving [...]

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]]> “You have a lot going on.”

I hear that from people, not infrequently. Recently, I’ve been hearing it from potential clients and employers when they encounter my site, see my resume, or even do a pre-interview Google search.

At first, I took it as a compliment. Lately, though, I’m hearing a little hint of misgiving in their tone. It’s got me wondering.

Define ‘A Lot’

I’m an author, a writer, an editor and a publisher. I’m a WordPress developer. I’m a social media expert and I’m a brand / platform consultant. I’m a musician, a vocalist, a bassist, a guitarist, a songwriter. I’m a voice actor, narrator, audio editor and podcaster. I’m a video creator and editor. I’m an online marketing producer. I’ve done each of those things, some more than others, in the past year. While I’m not doing all of those things at once, sure, I can see how folks might think, “You have a lot going on.”

Talent Overload?

Easy, reader. I’m not saying I’m all awesome and loaded up on mega talent. I’m thinking, though, that when folks come to my site, or my Google+ profile, Facebook or LinkedIn page, they might be… confused. “This guy’s some kind of dabbler… he must not be dedicated or serious about anything!”

I submit that misconception is a matter of perspective.

Renaissance Plan

I’ve given up defining myself with a string of hyphenated talents. When people ask what I do, I say “I’m a creator.”

I am very serious and very dedicated about one thing: making Stuff where once there was only Ideas. Everything I do serves that… sometimes for myself, and sometimes for others. Right now, I’m keenly interested in helping other folks turn their own Ideas into Stuff, since the compensation delivered for that service keeps me out of the poorhouse and gives me the freedom to turn my own Ideas into Stuff.

The ultimate plan, of course, is for my Stuff to support me. Eventually, I’ll no longer need clients, but they shouldn’t be offended or scared by that fact. After all, it’s what they want for themselves, too — to reach the point where their Ideas make Stuff that’s valuable enough to make them a nice fluffy, comfortable pile of money.

Right now, I’m perfectly poised to help. So clients, when you learn about me and all my various projects and see the assorted pies in the oven and balls in the air, don’t be scared. Creativity is fire, and I’ve got enough to light your torch and still keep my bonfire burning strong.

As for you, fellow “creative” reading this: do prospective clients view the many manifestations of your creativity to be a liability, or an asset? Let’s talk about it in the comments.

Matthew Wayne Selznick - Telling stories with words, music, pictures and people. Seeing this somewhere other than mattselznick.com? Please click through to comment directly on the post!



]]> http://www.mattselznick.com/2011/10/26/matthew-wayne-selznick-you-have-a-lot-going-on/feed/ 0 http://www.mattselznick.com/2011/10/20/reading-amazing-spider-man-issue-number-eight-part-one/ http://www.mattselznick.com/2011/10/20/reading-amazing-spider-man-issue-number-eight-part-one/#comments Thu, 20 Oct 2011 16:00:11 +0000 Matthew Selznick http://www.mattselznick.com/?p=6046 Reading The Amazing Spider-Man this time around, we’re treated to a special “Tribute to Teen-Agers” issue with a primary story set entirely at Midtown High and a backup tale (which we’ll tackle in the next installment) featuring the Human Torch. As always, we’ll look at this issue with an eye toward discovering what one of [...]

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]]> Reading The Amazing Spider-Man this time around, we’re treated to a special “Tribute to Teen-Agers” issue with a primary story set entirely at Midtown High and a backup tale (which we’ll tackle in the next installment) featuring the Human Torch. As always, we’ll look at this issue with an eye toward discovering what one of the most enduring story franchises of the modern era can teach us about developing our own storyworlds.

Part one of issue eight of The Amazing Spider-Man deals with “The Terrible Threat of the Living Brain!” The splash page shows a green boxy robot with stumpy ball-bearing legs and whirling arms menacing a quartet of cowering school kids while Spider-Man leaps at the thing from behind. The caption promises the long-foreshadowed fight between Peter Parker and Flash Thompson, a fight between Spider-Man and a non-human menace (I guess the Lizard didn’t count?) and, of course, “a tale of sheer fantasy, so real you’ll feel it’s happening to you!”

Let’s see about that!

Synopsis

All the antagonists of the issue are introduced in the very first panel — the “living brain” robot, wheeled into the science class at Midtown High School by two brutish laborers, and Flash Thompson, Peter Parker’s long-time rival. We also get the first real indicator of Peter Parker’s age: the caption reads “In the senior science class at Midtown High School…” If he’s a senior in high school, and not a sophomore as I previously assumed, Peter must be about seventeen years old.

Flash Thompson mocks Peter’s appreciation of the robot to the point of giving him a shove that knocks Peter’s glasses off. The glasses shatter on the floor, which is the last straw for Peter. When Flash threatens to beat him up after class, Peter retorts that Flash has “a little surprise coming.” Peter’s fed up. He thinks:

I’ve had it! I’m through pretending to be a pantywaist to conceal my real identity! I don’t need those specs anyway!

The teacher, Mister Warren (not the same Professor Warren who will cause lots of problems for the amazing Spider-Man in a few years), calls the class to order and introduces Mr. Petty from the I.C.M. corporation, who is there to demonstrate the robot. Petty gives the class a run-down of the machine — it’s the most sophisticated electronic brain yet devised, and is housed in “the form of a human body” (sort of) in order to dramatize its power.

The teacher selects Peter to assist Perry in demonstrating the Living Brain. Flash, naturally, teases Peter for a teacher’s pet, but the secretly brainy Liz Allen shushes him — she wants to see what’s going to happen.

While Peter gets up to speed on operating the Living Brain, the two thugs figure out that if they were to steal the thing, they could use it to predict horse races, lotteries and the like. They agree to grab the refrigerator-sized robot as soon as possible.

The class decided Peter should ask the Living Brain to determine the true identity of their favorite super-hero, the amazing Spider-Man. They feed in everything they know about him:

He’s about five feet ten inches tall!

Weight about one-hundred sixty pounds!

He’s been sighted in the Forest Hills area a lot!

He’s the most wonderful, heroic, glamorous man in the whole world!

If you ask me, he’s a neurotic nut!

If you ask me, they don’t need a big green robot to suss this one out. After all, apart from Liz Allen’s gushing, they’ve just described Peter Parker. Apparently the class of ’63 wasn’t known for its deductive reasoning abilities.

Peter, sweating visibly, feeds the clues into the machine. The Living Brain doesn’t take any time at all spitting out the answer on a strip of paper. Fortunately, it’s presented in the form of “mathematical code symbols” that Peter is to decode overnight.

Let’s pause for a moment here for a ridiculosity check. In the Living Brain, we have a device that is apparently one of the most sophisticated computers in the world. In order to demonstrate its utility, I.C.M. designed a very advanced robot body for the thing. Despite all this… they didn’t bother to include human-readable output. Huh?

Also… in the young Marvel Universe in New York City in late 1963, J. Jonah Jameson’s rants in The Daily Bugle and Now Magazine have everyone talking about the amazing Spider-Man. He’s kind of a big deal. Discovering his true identity would be the story of the year. Either Mr. Perry honestly doesn’t care about the publicity to be had in his company’s product unmasking Spider-Man, or he doesn’t sincerely believe the thing can figure it out given the information provided. Otherwise, why on earth would he leave that data with a high school student?

Ridiculous.

At least Flash Thompson recognizes the importance of that slip of paper — he tries to get it off Peter so he can decode it himself.

Peter can’t have that. Furious and a little desperate, he physically holds Flash back from taking the paper.

The teacher finally intervenes. He’s seen these two verbally sparring for months, and now they’re close to getting physically violent with each other. The most responsible thing this science teacher can come up with is to have the two kids duke it out in a controlled environment: he insists they settle their differences in the boxing ring in the school gym.

By the way, did your high school have a boxing ring? ‘Cause mine sure didn’t. We had “under the bleachers, after school!”

“And so, after class,” Peter and Flash suit up for their match. Despite Peter Parker’s well-defined biceps and six pack abs, kids call him “stringbean.” Folks see what they want to see, I guess.

Flash and Peter get into the ring. Flash goes on the offensive immediately, but Peter’s spider-sense is so effective he dodges every blow. Unfortunately, the kids watching take this to be cowardice on Peter’s part. Even Flash urges him to “c’mon and fight.”

Partially for show and, let’s face it, mostly because he wants to, Peter swings at Flash. To protect Flash from his spider-strength and to protect his own identity, Peter pulls his punch, putting “only the smallest fraction” of his strength into play. It’s still enough to blast poor Flash all the way through the ropes and out of the ring.

Flash, groggy and confused, convinces himself that it was a lucky punch and that he tripped over the ropes. He goes in for more… but before we find out what happens, it’s time to switch scenes.

On the floor above the gym, the two “technicians” decide the time is right to abscond with the Living Brain. Petty interrupts them; they knock him out… but in the scuffle, one of the bad guys bumps into the Brain’s control panel.

That’s all it takes for the most sophisticated computer in the world to “short circuit.” It starts swinging its ball bearing sockets at blinding speed and making its way through the school, running wild and out of control.

“While in the gym below, the fight goes on…”

Peter’s figured out how he can hit Flash without killing him — he’ll slap him with a flip of his wrist, rather than punching with the force of his whole arm. Just when Peter’s about to deliver what he hopes will be the blow that will settle their rivalry and release him from his pariah status once and for all, Flash is distracted by someone crying out about the Living Brain’s rampage.

Flash turns his head in the direction of the scream… and Peter can’t stop his slappy-punch. Pow. Down goes Flash… and the schoolkids cry foul, since Flash wasn’t looking.

The kids don’t have much time to put Peter through the ringer, what with that nasty green robot on the loose. They scatter, which gives Peter time to drop off the unconscious Flash in the locker room, change into Spider-Man, and hunt down the Living Brain.

Seven and a half pages of fight scenes follow. The challenge for Spider-Man is that the Living Brain remembers everything — you can’t use the same strategy twice because it will learn and adapt accordingly. It also adjusts its strength based on necessity, which means it doesn’t take long for it to figure out exactly how much force to use to break Spider-Man’s webbing.

Finally, risking a pummeling, the amazing Spider-Man manages to leap atop the Living Brain, where, leaning forward, he can reach the robot’s control panel and flip the “main cut-off switch,” making the Living Brain “incapable of further independent action.”

Unfortunately, Spider-Man succeeds in this just as the Living Brain’s momentum takes it — and Spider-Man, pinned by its arms — down a staircase. Fortunately, Spider-Man manages to snag a web-line on the stairwell that supports them both. They swing back and forth for a bit before finally coming to a stop. The Living Brain has been immobilized.

Even though they’ve had more than seven pages to do it, the two thugs that caused all this trouble still haven’t found their way out of the labyrinthine halls of Midtown High. They burst through the locker room door just as the recently revived Flash Thompson is bending over to tie his shoe.

Wham! The bad guys tumble right over him and manage to knock themselves out. Flash, eager to save face after getting his clock cleaned by “puny” Peter Parker, takes credit for incapacitating the thugsd when his classmates show up moments later.

Peter sees an opportunity for some mischief. He points out to everyone that Flash was the only one (more or less) not around while Spider-Man and the Living Brain were fighting… and he knocked out two ruffians with no trouble at all… and hey, why was he so eager to get the slip of paper possibly revealing Spider-Man’s real identity away from Peter?

The other kids pick up on it, for it also explains why Flash lost the fight with Peter — so no one would suspect the truth. While Flash sputters and frantically denies it, Peter makes his exit. He decides he’ll say he lost the Living Brain’s data printout in the chaos, and that, as they say, will be that.

Never mind that he’s not even curious to find out if the damn thing got the answer right, since, conceivably, the same data could be entered into the robot again, at any time. The I.C.M. corporation controls a machine that could expose him at any moment… and Peter Parker walks home from school literally whistling a jaunty tune. The end.

Thoughts On Issue Eight Part One of The Amazing Spider-Man

Two important things happen in this issue: Peter Parker’s glasses break (he’ll never wear glasses again) and the long-promised plot thread of his fight with Flash Thompson is resolved. Other than that, this issue felt very much like filler. Maybe the creators’ attentions were on one of the other comics Marvel put out that month?

Strictly from quality side of things, much ground was lost with this tale… and as we’ll see in the the next installment of this blog series, the second story in this issue didn’t do anything to get it back.

The lesson for storyworld and story franchise creation? Sometimes you have to have filler… in fact, you should have some “stand-in” story content in your catalog to cover in case of rare and unavoidable delays and problems.

That said, best be sure you don’t equate “filler” with “sub-par.” Every installment of your story, whether it’s an issue of a comic book, an episode of a television show, or a sequence in a video game, should build momentum and, ideally, audience and loyalty. Don’t sacrifice that momentum with a stop-gap.

Next time, we’ll tackle the second story in issue number eight of The Amazing Spider-Man, a little tale featuring Spider-Man’s pal the Human Torch. And still yet more teen-agers. Cripes.

The Amazing Spider-Man number eight part one
“The Terrible Threat of the Living Brain”
Cover Date: December, 1963
Script: Stan Lee
Art: Steve Ditko
Letters: Artie Simek

Join Me In Reading The Amazing Spider-Man

Click the cover to buy the first twenty issues of The Amazing Spider-Man in an inexpensive trade paperback from Barnes & Noble Booksellers:


Your purchase helps support this series and all my creative endeavors — thanks!

Matthew Wayne Selznick - Telling stories with words, music, pictures and people. Seeing this somewhere other than mattselznick.com? Please click through to comment directly on the post!



]]> http://www.mattselznick.com/2011/10/20/reading-amazing-spider-man-issue-number-eight-part-one/feed/ 3 http://www.mattselznick.com/2011/10/15/announcing-new-wordpress-services/ http://www.mattselznick.com/2011/10/15/announcing-new-wordpress-services/#comments Sat, 15 Oct 2011 20:13:21 +0000 Matthew Selznick http://www.mattselznick.com/?p=6039 I’ve created two new services for independent creatives or other folks who want to get started with WordPress or have existing sites powered by the WordPress content management script. As the software platform that powers fifteen percent of the most popular websites, WordPress is powerful and easy to use. These two packages make it even [...]

Matthew Wayne Selznick - Telling stories with words, music, pictures and people. Seeing this somewhere other than mattselznick.com? Please click through to comment directly on the post!

]]> I’ve created two new services for independent creatives or other folks who want to get started with WordPress or have existing sites powered by the WordPress content management script. As the software platform that powers fifteen percent of the most popular websites, WordPress is powerful and easy to use. These two packages make it even easier for you to get started with and maintain your presence on the web.

Web Hosting and WordPress Setup Bundle

Everything you need to establish your online presence and begin building your personal brand.

• One year of web hosting and domain name registration
• WordPress installed with a suite of plugins and add-ons to enhance search engine optimization and site security
• Web-based analytics to track your visitors and traffic
• One year of update management services for your WordPress installation
• Up to two hours of one-on-one WordPress training

Provided individually, I normally charge up to nearly $400.00 for the above products and services. Purchased together as the WordPress Hosting Package, your cost is just $249.95.

Get the WordPress Hosting Package now.

WordPress Update Service

I have a lot of clients who use WordPress to power their websites, whether they use my MWS Media Hosting to host their site, or another service. These wonderful folks have sites that cover a range of subjects and interests, but most clients have one thing in common: they seem to hate bothering with the regular updates and upgrades WordPress requires through the year.

I understand this — it’s easy to ignore the prompts to upgrade, and it might even be a little intimidating if you’re less technically inclined. All the same, it’s critically important to the security of your website to keep up with the regular updates. So, I’m now offering a service to handle those updates for my clients.

It doesn’t matter if you host your WordPress site with me or not — for $9.99 per month, I will keep your WordPress site (including plugins and themes) up to date so you don’t have to bother with it.

Subscribe to the WordPress Update Service Now.

Have Other Needs?

If you just need web site hosting, or if your vision for your WordPress-driven site is more complex than a basic installation, I’m available to help you there, too. I offer inexpensive web hosting and more advanced WordPress customization as well as a range of other services on a per-project or hourly rate. Get in touch and let’s see how I can help.

Matthew Wayne Selznick - Telling stories with words, music, pictures and people. Seeing this somewhere other than mattselznick.com? Please click through to comment directly on the post!



]]> http://www.mattselznick.com/2011/10/15/announcing-new-wordpress-services/feed/ 0 http://www.mattselznick.com/2011/10/13/worldbuilding-for-writers-number-six-planetary-atmosphere/ http://www.mattselznick.com/2011/10/13/worldbuilding-for-writers-number-six-planetary-atmosphere/#comments Thu, 13 Oct 2011 16:00:18 +0000 Matthew Selznick http://www.mattselznick.com/?p=5911 In the blog series Worldbuilding for Writers, Gamers and Other Creatives, we’re building a realistic Earth-like planet, step by step, for your storyworld and story franchise. We’re working from the top down, starting with large scale considerations like the star, the orbit and rotation details, and so on. Last time around, we covered the relationship [...]

Matthew Wayne Selznick - Telling stories with words, music, pictures and people. Seeing this somewhere other than mattselznick.com? Please click through to comment directly on the post!

]]> In the blog series Worldbuilding for Writers, Gamers and Other Creatives, we’re building a realistic Earth-like planet, step by step, for your storyworld and story franchise. We’re working from the top down, starting with large scale considerations like the star, the orbit and rotation details, and so on. Last time around, we covered the relationship between gravity, mass, density and size. This time, we’ll look at the world’s atmosphere. Throughout, we use my own storyworld setting, the Shaper’s World, as an example.

Atmospheric Conditions

Since we’re building an Earth-like world — a planetary setting where the environment is at least marginally hospitable to “life as we know it” — we can assume the atmospheric composition will be similar to that of the Earth. That means a composition of around 75% to 80% molecular nitrogen, about 20% molecular oxygen, about 1% argon, 1% to 5% water vapor, and a balance of trace gases like carbon dioxide, neon, methane and others in quantities far less than one percent. There’s room for variation, especially if your storyworld doesn’t have any off-world visitors to contend with air that tastes funny or doesn’t adequately replenish their respiratory systems.

We can calculate some interesting qualities of your world’s atmosphere — such as the height at which it thins out to nothing, the atmospheric pressure at sea level (and other elevations) and so on. First, we need to decide on the atmospheric composition and the corresponding average atomic weight and scale height.

Average Atomic Weight

The average atomic weight is a kind of standard measurement for each molecular gas in your atmosphere. One unit of atomic weight is equal to 1/2 the mass of a carbon-12 atom.

Here are the atomic weights for some common elements you would find in the atmosphere of an Earth-like planet:

Nitrogen	28.0134
Oxygen	31.9988
Argon	39.948
Carbon Dioxide	44.01
Neon	20.179
Helium	4.02
Methane	16.044
Krypton	83.8
Hydrogen	2.016
Nitrous Oxide	44.012
Carbon Monoxide	28.011
Xenon	131.3
Ozone	47.998
Nitric Oxide	30.006

To find the average atomic weight of your atmosphere, multiply the percentage of the atmosphere for each element times the atomic weight of that element, and add each one together. For example, the primary ingredients of the Shaper’s World’s atmosphere are nitrogen (72.7%), oxygen (21.2%) and carbon dioxide (1%) so the average atomic weight is:

Nitrogen (.727 * 28.0134 = 20.3657) + oxygen (.212 * 31.9988 = 6.7837) + carbon dioxide (.01 * 44.01 = 0.4401) = 27.5895

For comparison, the average atomic weight of Earth’s atmosphere is 29.

Scale Height

The scale height measures the rate at which your atmosphere thins with altitude. This is helpful for knowing just how high your planet’s atmosphere extends above the surface. Once we know the scale height, we can compute the atmospheric pressure at various altitudes above and below sea level.

Earth’s scale height is approximately 7,400 meters. To determine our own planet’s scale height, the formula is:

Earth’s scale height * (Earth’s atomic weight / your planet’s atomic weight)

The scale height of the Shaper’s World is:

7,400 * (29 / 27.5895) = 7778.3214 meters

Atmospheric Pressure

The atmospheric pressure at sea level is not directly tied to a planet’s mass, density or gravity. Rather, it’s a result of a complicated combination of processes over long (geologically long) periods. Atmospheric pressure is a reflection of how much atmosphere has been retained by the planet and is, essentially, up to you. Depending on your intentions, though, you might want to play with this. For example, a planet with a lower gravity and higher surface atmospheric pressure (relative to Earth) would be more conducive to natural flight. Also, note that the range of acceptable breathable atmospheric pressure for humans is suggested to be between .5 and as much as 5 times Earth atmospheric pressure at sea level. For the purposes of our Earth-like planet, let’s assume the atmospheric pressure at sea level is equivalent to 1.

Given our planet’s scale height and surface gravity, we can determine the atmospheric pressure at any height. This lets us know how high an average human being could climb without the assistance of a breathing apparatus. Of course, if you decide your sea level pressure is different than 1, you’ll want to adjust for your natives. The formula is:

sea level pressure exp(-(surface gravity*height)/scale height)

So, the atmospheric pressure 1000 meters above sea level on the Shaper’s World would be:

1 exp(-(.96*1000) / 7778.3214) = 0.8838 atmospheres.

Normal humans wouldn’t be able to breath without assistance at about 5,500 meters above sea level.

Another useful calculation is the height at which atmospheric pressure diminishes by half:

Your planet’s scale height * (the natural logarithm of 2, or .693147)

On Earth, this is about 5129.2891 meters above sea level. On the Shaper’s World, the atmospheric pressure is halved at:

7778.3214 * .693147 = 5391.5215 meters above sea level.

The elevation on the Shaper’s World where the atmosphere thins to next to nothing — essentially the edge of space — is approximately 70,000 meters (70 kilometers or 43.5 miles) above sea level.

Atmosphere and Planetary Temperature

The basic mean surface temperature of a planet is dependent on a great many factors. Principally, the figure depends on the amount of energy received from its parent body (usually its star) and the planet’s albedo (reflectivity) and greenhouse effect. A planet with an Earth-like atmosphere will almost certainly have some degree of greenhouse effect.

Heat Energy Received

We use the star’s total luminosity and distance to determine how much heat energy reaches the planet. Recall that Tah, the star of the Shaper’s World, has a luminosity of .9086 and orbits at a distance of 0.979 AU. The heat energy received at the distance of the Shaper’s World, or insolation, relative to Earth/Sun numbers, is determined like so:

Stellar luminosity / distance^2 = insolation

For the Shaper’s World, this works out to:

.9086 / (0.979^2 = 0.958441) = 0.9479

Albedo

A planet’s albedo determines how much of that heat energy is absorbed and how much is reflected back into space. For a baseline, consider that the albedo of the Earth is about 0.3 — it reflects back 30% of the energy it receives.

In very general terms, a planet’s albedo will be higher if the proportion of lighter areas is greater than darker areas. A planet covered in snow will have an albedo approaching .9, for example.

Greenhouse Effect

Any world with an atmosphere will have some degree of greenhouse effect. Atmospheres — especially atmospheres with some percentage of carbon dioxide and water vapor — act to hold in heat received from the star. Since we’re dealing with Earth-like planets in Worldbuilding for Writers, Gamers and Other Creatives, it’s safe to say your planet will have both carbon dioxide and water vapor in its atmosphere, and a greenhouse effect will be a factor in the planet’s mean temperature.

The greenhouse effect factor of an Earth-like planet is thought to be around 1.1.

Your World’s Average Temperature

The formula to determine a planet’s average surface temperature is:

374 * (Greenhouse Effect * (1 – Albedo)) * Insolation^.25

Let’s plug in the numbers for the Earth:

374 * (1.1 * (1 – .3)) * 1^.25 = 287.98 Kelvin or 14.83 Celsius or 58.694 Fahrenheit

If we assume the same greenhouse effect and albedo for the Shaper’s World, we get:

374 * (1.1 * (1 – .3)) * 0.9479^.25 = 284.1534 Kelvin or 51.80612 Fahrenheit

That’s colder than the Earth, and could have a drastic impact on the planet’s extremes of climate. Consider that the range of temperatures on the Earth is as cold as -89 Celsius (-128.2 Fahrenheit) and as hot as 58 Celsius (136.4 Fahrenheit), we might find that it’s unsuitably cold across too great a range of the Shaper’s World’s latitudes and altitudes. When we address climate and weather later in this blog series, we’ll tinker with the albedo and greenhouse effect to get a range that matches our intention.

Next

In the next Worldbuilding for Writers, Gamers and Other Creatives, we’ll begin rounding out the astronomy-based elements in our worldbuilding… starting with a satellite for your world!

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