2014 - 05/2014 Meeting 2

Page Created: 04/22/14. Last Updated: 06/14/14.

CHARLES E GANNON

Novels

.....Fire with Fire

.....Trial by Fire (forthcoming)

.....Raising Cain (forthcoming)

.....1635: The Papal Stakes (with Eric Flint)

.....1636: Commander Cantrell in the West Indies (with Eric Flint)

.....Extremis (with Steve White)

Short Fiction

.....Kinderspiel at Baen Books 2012: http://www.baenebooks.com/10.1125/Baen/9781618240668/9781618240668.htm?blurb

.....To Spec at Baen Books 2013: http://www.baenebooks.com/10.1125/Baen/9781625790958/9781625790958.htm?blurb

.....Pick of the Litter in Man-Kzin Wars 13

.....Tomcat Tactics in Man-Kzin Wars 13

.....Birds of a Feather in Ring of Fire 3

.....Upward Mobility in Ring of Fire 3

.....By the Book in Beginnings (Worlds of Honor # 6)

.....Introduction in War World Invasion

.....The Gift of the Magi in War World Invasion

.....Down the Rabid Hole, or, The Report on Lost Colony 4a in War World Discovery

.....Pound Foolish in War World Takeover

Non Fiction:

.....Rumors of War & Infernal Machines: Technomilitary Agenda Setting in American and British Speculative Fiction

Gaming:

.....Megatraveller

..........Hard Times: A Megatraveller Sourcebook

..........Assignment: Vigilante

..........Astrogator's Guide to the Diaspora Sector

..........Behind Blue Eyes

..........Numerous Game Articles & Interactive Fiction

.....2300 AD

..........Operation: Back Door

.....Twilight 2000

..........Cold War Rolls On (as Karl Johnson) in Challenge Magazine

..........You're Not from Around Here, Are You? in Twilight Nightmares (Twilight/Merc: 2000)

..........This Ain't No Weather Ballon in Twilight Nightmares (Twilight/Merc: 2000)

.....Dark Conspiracy

..........Dark Tek Sourcebook

..........Gnawlings (story)

LINKS:

.....Official Site:

http://www.charlesegannon.com/

.....Baen Books Author Page:

http://www.baenebooks.com/s-234-charles-e-gannon.aspx

MEETING SUMMARY

Meeting Date: May 31, 2014.

Meeting Site: HobbyTown USA, Nanuet, New York.

Official Attendance: 24.

Meeting Program: Talk / Videos / Q & A w/Science Fiction Writer.

Notes:

Additional Notes from the Meeting appear after the Newsletter Account.

Newsletter Account:

A bonus General Meeting of the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County was held on Saturday, May 31, 2014 at HobbyTown USA in Nanuet, New York. This activity was held in place of the monthly Special Activity. Anyone who had paid dues at the regular monthly meeting was admitted free to this gathering.

The meeting featured a talk, videos and questions and answers with science fiction author Charles Gannon. Our speaker was in town for Book Exposition of America / aka Book Con. He grew up in Rockland County and attended a meeting of the Association decades ago, and we were delighted to be able to set up an event for him.

Charles E Gannon's most recent work, FIRE WITH FIRE, is currently on sale. He has co-authored EXTREMIS with Steve White and 1635: THE PAPAL STAKES and 1636: COMMANDER CANTRELL IN THE WEST INDIES with Eric Flint. He has written fiction and non-fiction for Megatraveller, 2300 AD, Dark Conspiracy and other games. Mr Gannon is the author of over a dozen short stories, books of non-fiction, and is a member of the science fiction writers' think-tank, SIGMA. He has been a screenwriter, an expert commentator on The Discovery Channel, and interviewed by NPR. This write-up continues on the "05/2014 Meeting - 2" Page on the Association's Website.

Additional Notes:

Charles Gannon's first science fiction credit came in 1992 through the science fiction game genre. He experienced success writing for the game industry until he stood up for his right to a "Kill Fee" for a work delivered that the publisher did not publish. Our speaker won his case, but it made him persona non grata in the game industry.

Mr Gannon's initial works for Baen were collaborations. His first was for EXTREMIS with Steve White's when White's original collaborator dropped the ball. Gannon first had to function as a plot doctor as the plot had become unmanageable. The rework led to our speaker doing the majority of the actual writing.

His next collaboration was with another Baen Books project, the 1632 Series by Eric Flint. The plot follows the changes in history which result from a contemporary town from West Virginia being sucked through time and plopped down into the middle of the Thirty Years War. Mr Gannon felt the setting was interesting because this was a time of transition in European history. One of the themes is the conflict between American pluralism and dogmatic authority.

Our guest said that the first rule of successful collaborations was to avoid becoming involved in a collaborative project if your styles and methods are incompatible. The second is that you need to know when to stop nagging because you will never agree with every decision by your writing partner.

FIRE WITH FIRE was our guest's first solo novel. It is the first book in a trilogy which will continue in TRIAL BY FIRE and conclude with RAISING CAIN. The author described FIRE WITH FIRE as Band of Brothers meets League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (but the Gentlemen are aliens).

One problem with some military science fiction series is the tendency for the writer to raise the stakes in each subsequent work. The armies get bigger, the ships more powerful, until the work becomes a parody of itself. He uses the tools of Functional Solidarity, Tiles and Mosaics, and Immersivity as an alternate way to frame the storyline.

..........Functionality Solidarity: Mr Gannon plays with the idea that members of different species may bond based upon their roles within their society. Doctors from one species, for example, may have more in common with doctors from another species than they do with their political / military leaders.

..........Tiles and Mosaics: Rather than attempting to construct an organic future history in which each work builds upon its predecessor, our speaker believes in constructing a mosaic in which each story is a tile that gives the reader a snapshot into that universe. Eventually, the reader has enough information to construct the big picture for himself.

..........Immersivity: Charles Gannon wants his reader to have a visceral experience as if the reader is actually present in the work. He stays away from narrative "infodumps." This led to a long digression on how speculative books and movies can shape public policy in a way that traditional futurism cannot. Readers / viewers experience these events vicariously. The fiction is more real than the fact. FAIL SAFE and ON THE BEACH were tremendously influential even thought the facts of ONE THE BEACH were wrong.

The book trailer for FIRE WITH FIRE is on FaceBook but not You Tube. The two platforms have different policies regarding copyright. You Tube requires that you be the holder of copyright. FaceBook requires that you not infringe upon copyright. The difference is critical for our guest's trailer because he used material which is in Copyright Limbo via Abandonware. The company which produced the product (image, video clip, etc) no longer exists. Therefore it can no longer license nor claim copyright infringement. The trailer uses music composed by The Alan Parsons Project but performed by a tribute band. It would be prohibitively expensive to license the use of the Parsons recording, but tribute band's note-by-note reconstruction is very cheap. It is not necessary to do a book trailer, but if you are going to do one, make it good. Mr Gannon has a background in non-genre scriptwriting and film production.

At one point Mr Gannon referred to the Thor Power Tool Ruling and how it destroyed the mid-list writer. Back in 2005, Kevin O'Donnell, Jr gave a detailed explanation at the Science Fiction Writers of America website: http://www.sfwa.org/2005/01/how-thor-power-hammered-publishing/