JOURNAL ENTRY #19

June 15, 2008

Brenau University, Valdosta State, and the Coastline Community College have developed a combined venture at Kings Bay Submarine Base in southern Georgia. On June 6, they graduated 134 students with associates', bachelors' and masters' degrees in a range of areas from business administration to electronics technology to criminal justice. They invited me to give the keynote, and though I promised myself I'd refrain from talking about science fiction, I couldn't resist getting into the sciences a bit. Though only to the extent that I suggested the graduates take time to note occasionally the grandeur of the universe they live in. In the end, that's what education is really about, not gaining the capacity to make more money, but acquiring an appreciation of the wonders that surround us. It was, incidentally, my first visit ro a naval base since 1965.

We went to see M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happening." There were four of us. Reactions varied, but I was much impressed. It's refreshing to see some science fiction that's more than simply invaders running loose, or a monster chasing people through dark woods. The film is imaginative, thoughtful, and scary. Don't take the kids, though.

Robert Sawyer's Wake arrived the other day. I'll confess here that I've gotten bored with most of what passes for SF these days. Maybe I've simply read too much of it in a lifetime, but I need something more than interstellar wars or people trying to deal with exotic implants. I think I've read everything Sawyer's done, and I'm happy to note that he's never failed me. It'll be a few days before I can start it though. I'm trying to catch up on the last few issues of the major SF magazines, plus a couple of anthologies. For Nebula voting purposes. Trying to stay current takes a fair amount of time.

I mislaid the copy of Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything, which had been a Christmas present. Came across it several days ago. It's one of the most intriguing science books I've seen. Bryson not only asks the right questions, but he can lay the corresponding theories out in plain English, and with passion. He seems to be a guy who really cares about quantum mechanics, exclusion principles, and how long it would take a brick to hit bottom if you drilled a well all the way to the core.

Have also been reading essays by W.E.B. DuBois. Somebody else whose work is essential for gaining a wider perspective on the black experience. Or maybe on the experience of everyone who, for one reason or another, gets treated as an outsider.

I now have a complete first draft of Time Travelers Never Die. Robert Heinlein famously said you should never do a rewrite except under editorial command. I'm not sure whether he was actually claiming he could get it right the first time. My own first drafts are terrible. I've always refused to show them to anyone. And I can't help thinking how much better high school kids would do with their essays if they could get away from handing in their first attempts all the time. Especially in an era when fixing the thing is so easy.

I've stayed clear of cons this summer. Last year was too much of a dash to the finish. I was a month late closing out The Devil's Eye, and I don't want to reach a point where a novel suffers because I wasn't able to make adequate time to write the thing. The only commitment I have this side of Labor Day is Friday, August 22, at Stratford Academy in Macon, Georgia.

Jack

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