Wordcraft -- Get your rumble on, with Hinton’s Outsiders

My daughter’s favorite book as a teen was, odds on, S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders. Followed by every other young adult book written by Susan Eloise Hinton, whose first bestseller was famously published in 1967 using only her initials, to keep reviewers from dismissing her writing because she was a girl. And I’m not using “girl” as a putdown. Hinton wrote her first book while she was in high school. How’s that for setting the bar high for YA writers?

Lucky commuters today get a head start on the April Big D Reads events. Special edition copies of The Outsiders will be distributed at the West End, Mockingbird and Union Station DART stations from 7 - 8 a.m. and at the Victory station from 4:30 - 5:30 p.m.

Now in her 60’s, Hinton visits Dallas this month in connection with the 2014 Big D Reads program, which will also see her most famous book distributed to every freshman high school student in Dallas and at other locations.

Hinton is scheduled to speak April 24 as part of the Dallas Museum of Art’s Arts & Letters Live series. Her program is sold out, but fans can ask to be added to a waiting list by emailing their names, phone numbers and the number of tickets they're requesting to ArtsandLettersLive@dma.org.

Hinton had become distressed by the violence between rival gangs, the blue-color Greasers and upper-class Socs (pronounced “Soshes“) at her Tulsa, Oklahoma, high school. She decided to write from the viewpoint of fictional Greaser member Ponyboy Curtis, whose older brothers, Darrel and Sodapop, are also gang members.

“‘Need a haircut, greaser?’ asks the Soc confronting Ponyboy at the book’s beginning. “(He) pulled a knife out of his back pocket and flipped the blade open.

“I finally thought of something to say.” Ponyboy reports. “‘No.’ I was backing up, away from that knife. Of course I backed right into one of them.”

Hinton set her book in 1965. Its discussion of social class divisions, violence, and gangs has only increased in relevance in the years since.

(Because of the violence, the 1983 movie version of The Outsiders received a PG-13 rating, and the Big D Reads site warns the numerous showings and discussions scheduled this month may not be appropriate for all age levels.)

“I could see boys going down under street lights,” Ponyboy says by the novel’s end, “because they were mean and tough and hated the world, and it was too late to tell them that there was still good in it. . . It was too vast a problem to be just a personal thing.”

For a schedule of Big D Reads events, see
http://bigreaddallas.org/events/.

For more about the themes of The Outsiders, see the discussion at this site, “Healing through violence,” September 2, 2011.

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Also this week, meet dozens of Texas writers Saturday, April 4, at the 2014 North Texas Book Festival, at the Center for Visual Arts, 400 E. Hickory Street, Denton, Texas. For information and event schedule, see
www.ntbf.org/.

Wordcraft -- Has science fiction lost its magic?

Recently, a panel of literary and science geeks to honor a month of collectively reading Ray Bradbury’s science fiction classic, Fahrenheit 451. Panelists Ken Ruffin, Jerome Weeks, Phillip Washington and Charles Dee Mitchell had gathered to discuss what it was like for them to grow up with science fiction. They ended by admitting they loved the genre as youngsters, but by adulthood, all but one had abandoned science fiction.

It’s not that they stopped loving science -- Ruffin, after all, is president of the North Texas chapter of the National Space Society. Or that they stopped reading -- panel members Mitchell and Weeks are respectively immediate past president of the literary society WordSpace and a member of the National Book Critics Circle. OffWorld book club host Washington still reads science fiction, but even his group’s current reading is by 1960’s writer Philip K. Dicks.

What’s happened to science fiction recently? Is the genre truly dying, supplanted in popularity by fantasy, as has been reported for years? And if so, can science fiction be resuscitated? Or, should it, like extinct biological species, be left to die in peace?

In biological terms, one way of measuring a group’s success is the number of species it generates. I did a quick straw poll by comparing interests expressed by agents at the upcoming DFW Writers Conference, and was immediately struck by the proliferation of subgenres within fantasy on the agents’ preference list -- five, not including horror. It may also be overly generous to including paranormal romance as a fantasy subgenre. Even without horror or paranormal romance, eighteen agents reported actively liking one or more fantasy subgenres.

Science fiction garnered only two subgenres, if I include steam punk, whose validity as science fiction I personally find questionable. Only eight agents reported themselves actively seeking either science fiction or steam punk. If agents want to represent books they think they can sell, what does that say about the salability of science fiction?

What on Earth -- or off of it -- caused this discrepancy between the two imaginative genres of science fiction and fantasy?

“Star Wars came,” Weeks said, “and it was all fantasy.”

But it was more than the lack of scientific veracity, he believed, that killed science fiction. “I found, ultimately,” Week said, “I wasn’t interested in the technology. Ray Bradbury ages better because of his lack of technology. It’s the question of all fiction -- is it plausible? And does it say something to you beyond getting to Jupiter?”

I agree,” Ruffin said. “People tend to be not as impressed with science.”

“I grew up in a science fiction universe,” Washington said. “We live in a science fiction universe now. I don’t think people are that future oriented any more.”

A statement a younger member of the audience agreed with. “Science fiction isn’t imaginary any more. It’s real.”

(Next Monday, this subject is so dear to my heart, I’m going to extend the discussion one more week with suggestions about what might save science fiction, including comments from writers in the genre. In the meantime, a Dallas Big Reads month of Fahrenheit 451 has more events on offer, ending with a read-in at Klyde Warren Park Saturday, April 27, from 4-6 p.m. See www.bigreaddallas.org/. )

Wordcraft -- Growing up with science fiction

Ray Bradbury originally insisted his 1953 dystopian classic Fahrenheit 451 was about censorship. But he didn't underestimate the role -- good or bad -- technology would play in our future.

From ear buds (he called them “shells”) streaming music relentlessly to twenty-four hour talk and reality programs shown on wall-sized screens to designer prescription drugs for every psychic ailment -- Bradbury imagined them all. Generations after the technology he foresaw, it was pertinent in this month of the Dallas Public Library’s Big Read emphasis on Fahrenheit 451 to consider what it was like -- and is like -- to grow up in a world shaped by science fiction.

So last Tuesday, Dallas literary organization WordSpace brought together a panel of literary and science geek speakers to discuss the role of science fiction played in their lives.

WordSpace’s programming co-chairperson Charles Dee Mitchell moderated the discussion by Dallas public media KERA’s Jerome Weeks, National Space Society of North Texas president Ken Ruffin, and WordSpace’s OffWorld Science Fiction Book club host Phillip Washington.

Joking that Washington -- obviously too youthful to have read Fahrenheit 451 at its initial appearance -- “kept this from being a panel of middle-aged men,” Mitchell asked, “what was your first science fiction experience?”

Washington cited Orson Scott Card’s 1980’s Ender's Game, “not because it has spaceships and interstellar aliens, but because it was the first book I read that made me consider long durations of time. It was mind bending.”

“My first exposure to science fiction was watching Star Trek,” Ruffin said. Too young to remember the show during its original 1960’s seasons, he saw it in later syndication. “My aunts and uncles were talking about this weird show with these fake-looking aliens -- it was ’60’s special effects. I’m eight years old, and I sat down in front of the TV and was mesmerized.”

(Not even Bradbury would have quibbled over Ruffin’s choice. Biographer Sam Weller notes that Bradbury, who would write many scripts for TV joked, “I never said I was against all television. I am just against bad television!”)

“Between the age of six and thirteen,” Weeks said, “I read everything in my suburban (Detroit) library” including anthologies that introduced him to such science fiction writers as Robert Heinlein and Bradbury. “My sister also subscribed to two science fiction magazines.”

Oh, those wonderful, pulpy science fiction magazines, Mitchell reminisced. The ones he looked at longingly on the book store shelves but couldn’t buy because their covers invariably displayed scantily-dressed women, “usually clutched by aliens, with tentacles covering the interesting parts.”

And then, somehow, the magic disappeared. No panelist except Washington would confess to reading or even watching science fiction after passing adolescence. Even science fan Ruffin said, “I have not re-read any novels -- as much as I enjoyed them when I was younger. I was afraid they wouldn’t have the same effect on me.”

What killed science fiction for them? And how do the newest generation of young adult readers view the genre? Can it -- should it -- be revived, or is it as dead as a T. rex? I'll continue the discussion in next Monday’s Wordcraft. Additional Big Read events include Bradbury biographer Sam Weller on a panel discussing censorship this Thursday, April 18, at Dallas’ Bar Belmont, 901 Fort Worth Avenue, from 7-8 p.m. The discussion is free, drinks are on you.   See www.bigreaddallas.org/.

Wordcraft -- Spot the scams, no fooling!

Two weeks ago I wrote about one of my favorite free websites for writers, QueryTracker (“Tracking the right agent for your work,” March 18, 2013). It offers a wealth of information about potential agents. But before you actually hit “send” on that query letter, there’s at least one more site you should check -- Preditors & Editors. Conveniently, QueryTracker provides a link. Or look at it directly, http://pre-ed.com/.

The first think you’ll notice about the site, aside from its quirky spelling, is a notice that it’s being sued and asking for donations for legal fees. As best I can determine, this is part of an ongoing battle with PublishAmerica, a company notably peeved by the site’s “strongly not recommended” assessment. Agents, attorneys, and publishers don’t always like it, but we as writers need to know upfront before wasting our time -- and sometimes our money -- on scam artists.

P&E lists its criteria for dis-recommending agents and companies. The first sin on its list is charging fees up front. Has an agent used an author’s material without permission? Been found guilty of fraud or other crimes relevant to writers and publishing? P&E tells all. (It also notes that threats of physical violence automatically result in a “not recommended” listing. I don’t want to know where that came from.)

Want to know whether an agent you’re looking at belongs to a professional organization that can impose standards of conduct? Or whether the agent used to belong to such an organization but was booted out? Preditors & Editors will tell.

Of course, there’s stuff besides dirty business we want to know. Such as the all-important one -- has this agent actually sold her authors’ works to legitimate, paying publishers?

Among other good to know stuff -- suggested etiquette for contacting agents, and sample query letters. Just don’t copy the samples verbatim. Your intended agent no doubt has seen them often enough. You don’t want to tempt her to do any of that physical violence stuff.

Preditors & Editors itself lists other potentially helpful sites. I’d love to hear some of your best -- or worst -- examples of sites for writers!

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For Dallas-area readers -- the city’s Big Read program aims to start a month-long conversation about Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. Starting today, April 1, from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. for commuters at DART’s Union Station. So I’m getting up extra early to publish this and catch the train. See you there! For more Big Read events, see
http://bigreaddallas.org/.

Update -- I halfway expected Dallas Big Read's promised surprise for commuters to be an April Fool hoax.  It wasn't!  Friends of the Dallas Public Library handed out 1,000 free copies of Fahrenheit 451 this morning.  Last one was gone by about 5 minutes till 8.  This Thursday, the Perot Museum hosts a discussion of technology's influence.  Next Tuesday, April 9, Half Price Books, 5803 E. Northwest Highway in Dallas, hosts a discussion of the role of science fiction.

Wordcraft -- Feast of book fests

While writing round-up posts last year about writing conferences, I also found many conferences geared to readers and fans. And since writers are also readers, I’m dedicating this first Wordcraft post of 2013 to events for readers. Most are in North Texas, but some are further afield within the state. Since this is only a sampling, feel free to add your own favorites.

January 17 - June 4 -- Arts and Letters Live at the Dallas Museum of Art. Presentations by authors, actors, illustrators, musicians and more. Speakers include former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout (Olive Ketteridge), Booker Prize winner Margaret Atwood, and scientist Temple Grandin. Locations vary. See http://dallasmuseumofart.org/.

February 15-17 -- ConDFW XII, literary science fiction and fantasy event, Crowne Plaza Dallas, 14315 Midway Road, in Dallas suburb of Addison. Panels, readings and author signings. Also includes short story contest, with entries due January 27. For details, see www.condfw.org/.

February 21 -- Highland Park Literary Festival. At its heart are the workshops for Highland Park High School students, but keynote address by author Markus Zusak (The Book Thief) is free and open to the public. Highland Park High School, 4220 Emerson, University Park. See www.hplitfest.org/.

March 20-23 -- SMU LitFest -- Southern Methodist University’s revived literary festival, on the Dallas campus. A schedule of individual events will be posted later in January at http://smulitfest.wordpress.com.

April -- The Big Read Dallas -- series of events based on the late Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, although the April 19 reading at the Dallas Museum of Art is sold out. For updates on events, see http://bigreaddallas.org/.

August 29-September 2 -- World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon). It’s in Texas this year, at the Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center in San Antonio, 200 East Market St. It’s been in Melbourne, Yokahama, and Glasgow. This year, it’s in our state! Worldcon is where reader-favorite Hugo Awards for best science fiction and fantasy are presented each year. Hugo nominations are open through March 10. See
www.lonestarcon3.org/.

September -- Richardson Reads One Book, Richardson High School, 1250 West Beltline Road, Richardson. Speaker and date TBA. For updates, check www.cor.net/ .

October 4-6 -- FenCon X, a conference for fans of science fiction/fantasy/horror, Crowne Plaza Dallas, 14315 Midway Road (Dallas suburb of Addison). I’ll discuss the writing workshop and short story contest in more detail in next Monday’s roundup of writing conferences. Also see the link on its site for related conferences, including comics, www.fencon.org/.

October 24-26 -- National Black Book Festival, Fallbrook Church, 12512 Walters Rd., Houston. Hundreds of authors, free to the public. See www.nationalblackbookfestival.com/.

October 26-27 -- Texas Book Festival -- the big one! Free to the public, at the Texas state capitol, 1200 Congress, Austin. More than 200 Texas and nationally-known authors, with readings, discussions, book signings, and music. See
www.texasbookfestival.org/.

November 8-10 -- Readers & ‘ritas conference for romance authors and readers. Site TBA. See http://2013readers.eventbrite.com/.