Sirius XM iPhone app a failure out of the gate.

After months of waiting the iPhone app for accessing Sirius XM has finally been released. It is however an unmitigated failure right out of the gate. Why? It requires a premium subscription to access something that you are already paying for. I have a regular online subscription for online content because I pay for my XM subscription on an annual basis. I see no need to turn over more money for something I am already paying for.
I suppose that someone at Sirius XM thinks this will make people pay extra so they can listen to that awesome Sirius XM content from their iPhones. Do they realize that people who have already paid for an iPhone most likely have an iTunes library. So there is already music I liked enough to pay for on my phone.

Now you may ask, “Lee, you have a giant iTunes library. Why do you want to listen to XM?” If you didn’t know before you now know that I have spent way too much money on CDs then way too much money on digital music. Why listen to Sirius XM? Am I a Howard Stern fan? Nope. And by the way Howard Stern channels are not available on the iPhone app for some reason. I am an Opie and Anthony fan. Why would a Computer Scientist who aspires to be a science fiction writer listen to Opie, Anthony and Little Jimmy? Who knows. Can you explain your friendship with all your friends? I find them amusing.

So bringing this rambling back around. Sirus XM has decided that someone like myself that pays annually for a product from a company that almost went bankrupt may not access the online content on their iPhone unless they pay an additional $2.99 a month.

Sorry folks, go tell the brilliant minds that came up with this way to encourage me to pay extra for this that it will just make me reconsider paying for an annual subscription when it comes up in the next few months. That is not an idle threat. I almost did not renew this year, but I was 2 days to late to cancel when I remembered that I had to make a phone call to stop from being charged. Be careful how much blood you try to wring from this stone. I have lots of options and most of them I have already paid for or they are free. Can you say Slacker Radio?

Bad Science Television – Life After People

I remember a special on how long it would take things to decay if all the people left the earth some years ago. Now that idea is a television show. There is just one small problem, it is based on a silly premise.

The entire show is based on the idea that the entire planets population of humans disappears all at once. By disappear the show assumes that we humans have not left in space ships or have died off from disease. We just disappear.

How is this a problem? Because how we leave the planet is critical to figuring out how things fall apart.

If we all die of disease then there will be stack of bodies everywhere. The wildlife will eat well for a time, and then we will really nourish plants.

If we all got on spaceships or were teleported away in some planned excursion to another reality in a planned manner then we would shut down the power plants and open the gates so the animals can fun free and fend for themselves.

The idea that we all suddenly disappear does not make this fantasy or horror, it is just a bad premise. The producers chose one easy scenario and it allows them to take 10 minutes following the Queen of England’s Dogs around presuming how they would get out of Buckingham Palace.

Why not use the possible extinction scenarios and then talk about how the planet would react. It is just bad science and ultimately a waste of time. No research endeavor is good if it starts with a failed premise.

Bad Science Fiction

After reading the most horrific science fiction story intended for young adults, which I won’t name here, I was trying to figure out what made it so bad. I wanted to blame poor writing, but that would have been wrong. The grammar was good, the syntax correct, I can’t always say that about my writing. The problem became obvious as I stepped away from the work. The author had no idea what he was writing about and did not care to learn. I have read stories and articles about deep sea fishing and trust me, I have no interest in fishing of any sort, but the look into the life of men risking their lives on the open ocean to gather food in a commercial operation was enthralling. Why? Because the author cared about the story, and they knew what they were doing.

I am by no means an expert in NASCAR and I am sure that people who work for the racing organization who read my stories could point out dozens of ways I am wrong about details, but I try to make sure that I never lose sight of what NASCAR means to the drivers, the teams and the fans. If I have taken a liberty with a detail it is to advance a story, but it is not to say that I don’t like the way they are doing it so in my fantasy world I will make it work this way. If I were going to do that I might as well just make up everything.

I hate when an author does not take the time to care about the details it shows. If I kill a character, it hurts those around them. If I introduce a technology it has an impact. Things do not happen in a vacuum. I will of course give up my high ground if someone offers a large pile of money and insists I write something a certain way, but have no fear, I would never lie about selling out. I will tell you, then I will take the money and go back to what I want to write.

New Formats for The Spotter

Thanks to the folks who noticed for formatting errors in the previous PDF version of the Spotter. While taking the time to update the PDF, I added an HTML version in a zip file for download. Going forward, I will make both versions available with all future publications on the site. Thanks for catching the format errors.

Disqus

I have reinstalled Disqus to manage comments on the blog. Found this to be a great way to let people post and maintain some order in the comments.

Why use Creative Commons Licenseing?

Writers need readers. New writers need anyone to read them. If I horded my work and did not find a way to get it into peoples hands to read I would never improve.

A friend of mine could not believe that I was making available for free things that I spent months writing. I pointed out that they are still mine, and I am just letting anyone read them without cost. However if someone wanted to make money off of my publications the copyright is mine and I reserve those rights. He did not understand. He was still focused on the idea that people did not have to pay to download my work.

By now you have probably figured out that his objections have nothing to do with creative commons work at all. You can put fully any material on the we to be read and downloaded. I choose a license for my work that encourages people to share it without feeling the need to ask permission to do so.

I need readers, and CC licensing is a way to make it easier for people to read.

Book Cover Pictures

Where do the pictures come from for my story/book covers? They are my own photographs. I use some simple image editing to make the covers. Why do it myself? I have a rule for all of my writing projects, no cost or very little cost. If I use my own photographs I don’t have to compensate someone else or even take the time who I should credit for them.

If you want to know exactly how I have done the cover art just ask. I may even post more information about them when I have time. I think some of them are a story unto themselves.

What projects are active right now?

I am currently working on the following:

The Sponsor – Editing

The Jackman – Writing

Lifter – Outline/Planning

Homecoming – Character Bios, research, outlining.

Arrested Development ( Eternal Emperor Book 1 ) – Chapter Insert writing, plot outlining.

Why post this? I want to try to post this once a month if for no other reason to make myself look at what I am doing and decided if I am moving forward of floundering.

Racing Tales

Racing Tales

I decided to put all the NASCAR science fiction stories into a collection called racing tales. The collection is planned out to be:

The Spotter, The Sponsor, The Jackman, and Lifter. There is a possible 5th on but so far that story has not taken shape enough to name. I will put up each story on their own as they are finished in PDF, HTML and Mobi format for the kindle. When the entire collection is complete I am planning to put them in my lulu store and make them available in the Amazon kindle store. If you own a kindle and are not sure how to put a Mobi file on your kindle, drop me an email. I will help you out.

NASCAR and Science Fiction

I know at first glance it would seem impossible to meld science fiction and the premier racing series in the United States, but I think fans of both have a lot in common. Devotion to ones team or author or genre is strong. Fans of each are highly involved. Both are filled with hope for the future.

More so than any other reason, I love Science Fiction and I love NASCAR. Ask me what I am doing on the weekend and my plans include making time for the Cup race. Often reading science fiction while doing so.

In one of my earliest short stories I examined fandom from the point of view of a visiting alien. In ‘The Driver’ an alien visitor uses a NASCAR sponsorship to announce the arrival of their alien fleet. This story is going to be edited a bit more to make up for my weak training as a writer.

In ‘The Spotter’ novella which is about to be released to the web site I examine the career choice of a man who can see possible futures and the difficulties he must face in a sport where speeds are increasing and so is the danger.

The current novella I am working on, ‘The Jackman’ covers the story of a former College Football lineman who takes a job as a jackman on a pit crew while learning to be an engine builder. When he is injured during a race he takes a radical approach to healing his injury. As his strength and healing quickness increase he ponders a career as a crime fighter while trying to keep his secret hidden from the race team that knows him.

NASCAR provides a wonderful backdrop for science fiction. I hope you will take the time to follow me down this road and see where it leads.