Whatever you prefix to the -punk

My good friend Dan Fawcett has started up his own blog, kicking things off with a conversation about the various subgenres in SF/F that get called (prefix)punk.  Dan, being much more of an academic scholar that me, notes several of them.  The big boys, cyber- and steam-, of course, and then the lesser entries to the canon: clock-, diesel-, sandal-, atom-, tesla-, and the somewhat bewildering "nowpunk".

What, exactly, is "nowpunk"?  I'm not entirely sure, beyond the fact that Bruce Sterling, my dear close personal friend*, describes one of his recent works as that.  I'm not entirely sure what it might mean.

The various (prefix)punk subgenres are often about style.  Not entirely, of course, but style is a big part.  They're alt-histories, but specifically ones where culture and technology branch off in a different direction, rather than the usual "What if X was different?' sort of alt-histories.  To "punk" something, in this usage, is to alter history in terms of technological and social changes.  Give the past something more advanced than they had, or as advanced but in a different way.  And the "punk" suffix has become a really useful shorthand.  If I tell you I'm doing, say, a "clockpunk" story (and I might argue that the various Maradaine books, especially Holver Alley Crew, have clockpunky elements to them), then you'll probably be able to conjure up a solid idea of the look and feel of the story.  (The other edge of that sword is if a writer relies on that trope lazily, figuring just the subgenre name will do the work for them.)

But back to "nowpunk", which kind of fascinates me.  What does it mean?  Tweaking tech and history of current times?  I can't help but think that 24 might be a fine example of it.  On one level, it has a recognizable setting of "now" (or the "now" of when it was airing).  But it actually presents a very different America than the one we live in.  We see eight single-day glimpses from the year 2000 to 2014.  In those fourteen years, there are seven US Presidents, three of which are vice-presidents who assume the office after the death or removal of the sitting president.  The series centers around CTU, a federal agency that exists to investigate terrorist activity on US soil, and has a fair amount of latitude in terms of violating civil rights to achieve its mandate.  It's an America that never had 9/11, but accepted even more trade-offs of liberty for the sake of security than we did after 9/11.  It is also an America that fell prey to several more homeland attacks, including two nuclear explosions over those 14 years.  Not to mention the technology-- cyber and surveillance tech are slightly more advanced, though to the degree that is typical in any modern technothriller.  (Of course any grainy picture can be "enhanced" to perfect clarity.)  Would this be "nowpunk"?  Possibly.

Thinking about this, it occurs to me that cyberpunk has, in a way, become as much of a past-offshoot as steampunk, where tech and culture branches off in a different direction in the 1980s.  Consider this: Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash is set in 1998. (This isn't made explicitly clear, but Hiro Protagonist is about 25 years old, and was born in 1973-- same year as me!  And the fact that his father served in WWII is a major plot point.) Though I'm sure there are more current cyberpunk books that are based on branching off today's tech. 

So, that all said, anyone have any good (prefix)punk recommendations?

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*- Or, in reality, the sci-fi superstar I sat next to in a panel that one time.

Plans for 2012

I did accomplish a lot of things in 2011, but on some level I always feel like I could have done more.  So here are my Unrealistic Goals for 2012:

1.    Get a book deal for Thorn of Dentonhill.  On some level, this is out of my hands.  I would really like to say 2012 is going to be my year for this to happen.  But the industry moves slow, and I need to be patient.  But fingers crossed.

2.    Finalize Holver Alley Crew, make that book deal as well.  Because we should either go big or go home, right?

3.    Final draft of Maradaine Constabulary.  Have Mike approve that and start selling it.  If we can get the hat trick with the book deals, all the better.  But that might be pushing, even in the dreams department.

4.    Finish Rough draft of Way of the Shield.  Because I need to have the new project working as well.  Move or die, just like a shark.  And with that, I’ll finish all four planned Heroes of Maradaine first books.

5.    Finish worldbuild and outline for Banshee and Starcrossed.  Knocking out a first draft wouldn’t suck, either.

6.    Outline/Worldbuild for one or more of the unnamed YA/Heroine/Steampunk projects.  Because I’ve got stuff rattling around in my skull that wants to get out.

In addition, I’ll be attending Boskone (just as an attendee, not as programming) and ArmadilloCon 34, including the Writers’ Workshop.  And there will probably be a few short plays written in that time as well.

So, that should keep me plenty bust for the next twelve months.

It's Thursday already?

Since 2011 is almost over, time for an update on State of the Writer.

From my last update:

• Thorn of Dentonhill (Book 1 of Veranix series): Shopping.  I know it's at a few publishing houses right now. 
  
• Holver Alley Crew (Book 1 of Holver Alley Crew series): A new finished, polished draft, based on notes from the agent.  I'll be sending that to him, plus synopses for potential second and third, in the near future.  
• Maradaine Constabulary (Book 1 of Maradaine Constabulary series): Working hard on the second draft, which includes a significant change in one of the two main character's living/family situation.  I've decided if Minox comes from a long line of Constabulary men, then he needs a sizable amount of family who are either in or somehow adjacent to the city constabulary.  That includes tweaking an existing character to now being his cousin.
• From Star to Star (Book 1 of Banshee series): As said before, I scrapped my old "USS Banshee" concept to something a bit stranger, and I like it, but I'm still in the plotting/outlining/worldbuilding phase of things.
• The Way of the Shield (Book 1 of Vanguard series): I still have a full outline, and I've done some more detail work, and some initial writing.  I've hashed out the problems with the main character that were eluding me, so once I finish the aforementioned Maradaine Constabulary rewrites (mid-January, allergies willing), I'll be off to the races there.

Now, what else is there? All the previously mentioned scraps and ideas are still out there (Starstruck, Zodiac 13, Untitled YA Project), plus another high-fantasy big-picture idea that I'm only beginning the worldbuilding on, and the Untitled Steampunk/Spaceopera/Can'tDecide Project.  And, of course, Crown of Druthal is in the trunk.  Don't think it'll ever come out.

Space Opera vs. Steampunk

A friend of mine sometimes refers to writing as "going into the word mines", which is a very nice metaphor, if I do say so myself.  Not only because it conjures up the image of hard, grueling work to bring up a few precious gems, though that is a key reason.

Part of why it works for me is the image of the mine itself: filled with large passages and twisty tunnels.  I like to think, when I'm working on a specific project, like I'm supposed to be right now, I'm going down that specific tunnel.  So, right now, the Holver Alley Crew tunnel is the one I'm supposed to be working on.  I've gotten almost all the words out of there, and then it's just a matter of putting and polishing and putting them to market.  (Go with me on this metaphor, will you?)

However, when I go down into the mines, I make some discoveries.  I've found a whole new vein of words in the Maradaine Constabulary tunnel, so once I've finished in Holver Alley, I'll have plenty to do there. 

(And there are, of course, the tunnels that dead end, that turned out to have no words to mine.  We won't get into that.)

But then there are the times when you find a whole new tunnel.  One that might have thick, rich veins of many shiny, sparkly words.

The ground shifted on me while heading down to Holver Alley, and I saw a shaft leading to a whole new tunnel.  I peered down, as you do.    I wasn't ready to go down and start working, of course, but I wanted to know what might be there.

I saw a ship, and a crew.  A crew of rough-but-decent-hearted privateer types.  On some level, the crew and the ship were completely clear to me.  I knew exactly who they were and what sort of adventures they could have.  In my Space Opera timeline they could fit right in, cruising around the asteroid belt and the outer planets on a solar-sail ship in the early 22nd century.

Then I looked again, from a slightly different angle.  The same basic crew, a very similar ship, but... not quite.  Suddenly they were a Steampunk crew, cruising around the uncharted west of North America on a sailed-airship in an alternate 19th century.

And I felt a bit of panic.  I really could go either way with them.  Except I don't have a Steampunk setting that I've done the worldbuilding for.  Not yet, anyway.  But this crew might inspire the idea that I need to. 

So, that's the thing to figure out: are they Space Opera, or are they Steampunk?  Not sure yet.

In the meantime, I've got to go into the mine to finish the Holver Alley re-write. 

When I get Writer's Block, I get on Photoshop

I'm not writing a Steampunk novel.
I'm not really planning on writing a Steampunk novel.

But, if I was going to write a Steampunk novel, it might look a little like this:



In other words, when I get stuck, I get on photoshop and make maps or other stuff. This time, I made a fake cover to a book I have no plans on writing.