National Book Festival: Science Fiction

Award-winning science fiction author Spider Robinson has generated a loyal following with his novels on telepathy, time travel with his most recent works, "Very Bad Deaths" and "The Crazy Years." But Robinson has found his way into sci-fi fi fans hearts with his "Callahan's Place" series that has run for over 20 years. He and his wife of 30 years, Jeanne, collaborated on the Hugo-, Nebula- and Locus-winning Stardance Trilogy and continue to work on various projects.

Robinson was a book reviewer for Galaxy, Analog and New Destinies magazines for nearly a decade and his op-ed column "Future Tense" has appeared in The Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper, since 1996.

Spider Robinson will be online Thursday, Sept. 28, at noon ET to field comments and questions about his books and participation in the National Book Festival .

____________________

Spider Robinson: Hello, folks--Spider Robinson, here, typing from my daughter's apartment in the Bronx. I just wanted to open by letting you know that a video interview with me and David Crosby about Robert Heinlein has just been posted to www.expandedbooks.com, where it can be viewed as either Quicktime or Windows Media, or listened to as a podcast. You can also see the same video on my own homepage at http://www.spiderrobinson.com; just scroll down a bit--and very soon it will also be available at www.variablestarbook.com, a special site just to promote that book. The interview closes with a short excerpt of me singing the song David and I wrote together for VARIABLE STAR, "On The Way To The Stars," and it is rumored that Expanded Books is putting together a second video of the entire song as a standalone. I'll keep you posted at my website.

As you'll recall, David not only wrote a reference to "water brothers" into "Triad," the song that got him kicked out of the Byrds, he also wrote the first-ever science fiction song that wasn't a novelty, "Wooden Ships," for Crosby, Stills and Nash. Theodore Sturgeon used to be his next door neighbor. Picture that. Nobody could have been a better choice to write the melody to "On The Way To The Stars." The second volume of his autobiography, SINCE THEN, will be released next month; his coauthor Carl Gottlieb wrote the screenplays for JAWS and THE JERK.

And now, let's get this chat on the road....if that isn't mangling a metaphor. Who's first? Step right up....

Spider Robinson: Oh wait, I nearly forgot: in all the hoopla about VARIABLE STAR coming out this month, I hope readers won't fail to notice that my own latest SOLO novel, VERY BAD DEATHS, is also being released for the first time in paperback this month. It's the novel that caused David Crosby to send me the fan letter that started our friendship. It's a scary SF/mystery/thriller set in contemporary Vancouver, with extensive flashbacks to the 60s--and be warned, it contains the CREEPIEST villain I've created so far.

AND, the entire Stardance series of novels I co-wrote with my wife Jeanne (ANOTHER collaboration!) is ALSO being released this month in its first-ever hardcover omnibus edition, THE STARDANCE TRILOGY [Baen Books]. The opening pages of that saga originally made Jeanne the first writer ever to win a Hugo and a Nebula with her first published work.....and ALMOST got her into orbit to try zero-gee dance for real, back when there was still a Civilian In Space Program.

My obvious intention is to bankrupt all my fans for Christmas.....

And now back to the chat.

_______________________

Kissimmee, Fla: Spider - as a reviewer, editor, journalist and author, have you ever become annoyed with grammatical conventions? Have you had to make changes to something you felt was right but wouldn't have been accepted by an editor? I find grammar rules to be terribly constricting, especially when dealing with dialog.

Aside from that, I'm a huge fan of your Callahan series and wondered if you'd ever publish an omnibus edition?

Spider Robinson: I do sometimes become annoyed with grammar restrictions. I can't seem to find an editor who agrees with me that the correct replacement for "hopefully" is "hopeably," for instance. Hopeably I will one day, I say hopefully.

But you certainly should NOT find grammar constraining in DIALOGUE...and any editor who insists dialogue be grammatical is making a big mistake. People do not speak grammatically, and dialogue that does so soon sounds unnatural, forced. Let your characters speak as grammatically as their background suggests they would.

Bottom line: grammar should make it EASIER for the reader to grasp your meaning.

Spider Robinson: There is, by the way, an omnibus of the first three Callahan books, THE CALLAHAN CHRONICALS. I doubt they'll be doing any others, but if enough of you write to Tom Doherty at Tor Books and ask for them, who knows?

But on the subject of omnibuses, I'm overjoyed to announce that Baen has just this month released some of my very best work, the entire Stardance series I co-wrote with my wife Jeanne, in its first-ever hardcover omnibus volume, as THE STARDANCE TRILOGY. It includes the complete text of STARDANCE, STARSEED and STARMIND.

_______________________

Rockville, Md: I have got to admit that I have been reading less over the past few years as I completed my career as a science librarian. now that I am retired, I will have time to catch up and perhaps write a bit about Vietnam. however, I did very much appreciate your: Rah, Rah, R. A. H.! By Spider Robinson, ¿1980 so much that I still read it again now and then. How did Heinlein get so much out of favor? Even Asimov was taking his shots in his last book. I liked Grumbles.

Spider Robinson: I think it's inevitable for anyone who's been The Best at something for so many decades to become a bit of a target. We all have a tendency to resent the really really successful, God help us. Also, Heinlein kept evolving as he grew, and so inevitably he ended up irritating some readers who weren't interested in evolving with him,

And of course he felt the US should keep its treaty commitments to other nations, which was an unpopular position during the Vietnam War. Worse, he didn't believe that soldiers are bloodthirsty thugs--another unpopular position then.

Robert loved to challenge accepted wisdom, ask uncomfortable questions, kick sacred cows, make outrageous pronouncements that turned out to make sense if you thought really hard about them....I'm surprised he didn't make MORE enemies than he did. He was simply such a good storyteller he got away with it, I guess. I disagreed with him on a few issues myself, but never let it get in the way of either my reading enjoyment or our friendship.

_______________________

Alexandria, Va: First, I really used to enjoy your book reviews in the paperback sf magazine DESTINIES. Have you done any of that lately?

Second, as a Heinlein buff, have you heard of anyone who is writing a real biography of him? By that I mean the story of his life NOT another book of literary criticism. I know it would be difficult since most of his contemporaries are already, like the Grand Master himself, no longer with us.

Spider Robinson: I gave up book reviewing for good when I realized that a rave review does not necessarily earn a friend, and anything less produces a mortal enemy. The nature of SF is that most of the editors used to be writers. I dare not piss off the next generation of editors. I only hope I quit in time...

Robert's official biography is being written by his archivist, William Patterson, the same fellow who found VARIABLE STAR in the archives. The advance looks I've gotten suggest that Bill is doing an absolutely superb job. I look forward to reading it. and while we're on the subject, let me plug another one: the second volume of David Crosby's autobiography, SINCE THEN, due out next month. David's co-author Carl Gottlieb wrote the screenplays for JAWS and THE JERK.

_______________________

Philadelphia, Pa.: What are some of the major changes you have seen among science fiction fans over the past few decades? As science changes, is it reaching different types of audiences?

Spider Robinson: first, we've all gotten a bit better looking. Unfortunately, we've also dwindled sharply in numbers; fantasy fans now outnumber us about four or five to one. Just as science is starting to fulfill its promise of a better tomorrow (witness this online chat), readers are for some reason becoming less and less interested in science, and in science fiction. I wish I knew why, or how to reverse it.

_______________________

Alexandria, Va: Love your work, Spider. Met you at PhilCon a couple of years back but I've missed some chances to see you since.

I was wondering what kinds of incentives a small literary science fiction convention typically needs to offer to get you and Jeanne to attend? A friend of mine runs one in Richmond, Virginia.

Spider Robinson: Jeanne and I have just decided to take a year off from conventions. Partly burnout, partly offense at the indignities now involved in plane travel. The further we have to fly, the more we hate it. And we live in British Columbia. I'm getting so old, it would take the comforts of first-class to entice me. Remember, I've been doing this for over 30 years now.

When we ARE in a con-going mood, we have the same terms as most writers: travel, accomodations, a reasonable per diem, a hotel big enough to have room service, and ground transport to and from the airplane will generally do it. Neither of us drinks, so we're cheap dates.

_______________________

Houston, Tex: Hi there. Thanks for chatting with us today. First I want to say what a big fan I am, and how much I've enjoyed your books.

I'd like to know who you like to read.

Spider Robinson: I'm a major mystery fan these days: Thomas Perry is my favorite, with Lee Child, Michael Connelly, and Harlan Coben all tied for second place, followed closely by Randy Wayne White, James Lee Burke, et al. And of course I'm dying to read WHAT'S SO FUNNY?, the new Dortmunder novel that Don Westlake has just finished. As for SF, I'm really enjoying John Varley's latest work.

_______________________

Washington, DC: Hi, Spider-

As a long-time fan going back to your first story in Analog, I was so disappointed with "Very Bad Deaths" that I actually threw it out. It wasn't the content on sadism that bothered me, but rather that the plot seemed contrived -- the villain just happens to fly over the one person who can detect his villainy; the villain has magical computer technology to catch anybody trying to find him; etc.

I disliked it so much that it has really led me to look at your earlier work in a much more critical light.

How has "Very Bad Deaths" fared among critics and your readers? Am I alone in my take, or have you gotten more comments like mine--not focused on the sadism aspect, but rather on the book's ability (or inability) to get the reader to willingly suspend disbelief?

Spider Robinson: So far yours is the second critical comment I've received on that book. The first guy was enraged that Smelly suddenly turned out to be a PROJECTIVE telepath at the end, just in time to save the day. Apparently he failed to notice Smelly acting as a projective telepath within minutes of his appearance at the beginning of the book, curing Russell's depression.

I'm afraid I don't grok your objections.

If the villain hadn't flown over Smelly, none of us would ever have heard of him and there'd have been no story; that's what you'd have preferred? Sorry, I have a living to make.

If the villain hadn't had high tech gear, he would have been self contradictory; you rarely get geniuses who don't use their genius. And in fact he uses no technology that I couldn't purchase for cash right now in Vancouver.

All I can say is, I regret you had such a bad time. Hope you like VARIABLE STAR better. All the reviews of VBD so far have been extremely flattering, as has been all the fan mail with the single exception noted above. One or two readers did say they found the villain excessively sadistic; I can only conclude they've read few other modern thrillers. Michael Connelly has created at least half a dozen monsters who make my Allen look like an altar boy...

_______________________

Portland, Ore: I enjoyed reading "Very Bad Deaths" a lot. When will we see Russell, Smelly, and Nika again?

Spider Robinson: I'm glad you asked. As we speak I'm working on VERY HARD CHOICES, the second book in that series; it will be my next book. With luck you should see it by next year some time. Thanks for the kind words about VBD...

_______________________

You Know Where I Am: I sent my question by telepathy? Did you get it?

Spider Robinson: you know I did.

_______________________

Washignton DC: How many drafts do you complete before submitting anything to an editor? What keeps you positive, and thinking the first draft could turn into something worth the time and effort?

Spider Robinson: I'm a one-draft kind of guy. I try to get it right the first time. But that one draft gets rewritten over and over and over until I'm satisfied with it.

What keeps me positive? Delusion, I sometimes think. That, and being a family man with a mortgage to pay. I really don't have a lot of choice at this point: it's WAY too late to start working for a living. Robert Heinlein said once, "The acme of prose style is exemplified in the graceful, elegant clause, 'Pay to the order of...'"

_______________________

Sacramento, Calif: Would you mind talking about how you got into Robert Heinlein's head, so to speak, when you wrote "Variable Star" from his long-lost notes? And how do you respond to Publishers Weekly's intimation (at least to my way of thinking) that you left it open-ended, or incomplete?

Spider Robinson: Robert has BEEN in my head since age 6; the first book I ever read was ROCKET SHIP GALILEO, and the next 9 I read were also Heinleins, so he is my template for how fiction looks when it's being done right. He has sat on my shoulder for every one of my own books, making caustic comments; this time he was given veto power, that's all.

I can tell you that his ghost flatly refused to work with me until I swamped out my office; the mess was too much for him.

I've spent a lot of my life wondering, "What would Robert think about this?" It wasn't hard to extend it to VARIABLE STAR. And it helped a LOT that, thanks to his granddaughter Amy, I had a pair of his cufflinks to wear as I typed...and in the summer, I had his favorite gardening shirt to wear.

As to the book being open-ended or incomplete....is there something wrong with that? Does every book or movie about WWII, say, continue until the Armistice is signed? Of COURSE it's open-ended, allowing the possibility of sequels. But most readers seem to agree this volume has enough ending to it to satisfy. It begins with the breaking of the hero's heart, and ends with its successful mending--what more did PW want?

_______________________

Washington DC: What's the best method for finding markets to submit work?

Spider Robinson: It's been 30 years since I needed to address that question, so this answer may be antique...but what I did was go to the library and look in WRITER'S GUIDE and WRITER'S MARKET. Each listed the places that would buy what I was trying to peddle, told what they paid, and gave hints on what they didn't ever want to see. I picked the best-paying SF market, assuming they'd have the classiest looking rejection slips....and behold they bought the damn story.

As I said, I don't know if it still works that easily. The SF magazines are in decline, and there are few original anthologies. Good luck!

_______________________

Ellicott City, Md: I've read with pleasure and critical appreciation many of your stories. Several of your short stories contain racially charged scenes or characters, with fairly hostile and seemingly hopeless outcomes regarding racial conflicts. Would you speak to those racial sensibilities and why you chose to write about them?

Spider Robinson: My thoughts and feelings on race are summed up in my novel NIGHT OF POWER, which was just reprinted last year in paperback. I feel we have never satisfactorily dealt with racism, and that we'd damn well better, soon. I have relatives and friends of all skin colors, and so I've heard enough stories to curl my hair for a lifetime.

Time we started living up to our ideals, for real. Before it's too late.

_______________________

Washington, DC: Gosh, seeing your name on this chat stirred some memories. God is an Iron in an early 80s Omni (I think)really transformed me from a kid who read sometimes into an engaged wideminded reader.

Just wanted to thank you for telling some marvelous tales over the years. I've got some Callahan saved up for my five year old when he gets a few more years (and the ability to read!) under his belt.

-- Sam

Spider Robinson: Sam, thank you very kindly for those sweet words. You are quite welcome. I hope your son enjoys Callahan's Place--I'm much too old now to put on a necktie and look for work.

_______________________

Washington DC: How many drafts do you complete before submitting to an editor? How do you keep a positive attitude when reviewing the first draft if, in fact, it's bad?

Spider Robinson: already answered this one. did it not appear? All I can see on this screen is unanswered queries.

_______________________

Spokane, Wash: Would you consider letting the Callahan series, the Stardance series or Variable Star being turned into a movie?

Spider Robinson: I'd love to see any or all of them turned into movies. But those are the three properties closest to my heart, so I'd want to feel they were going to be done right.

My wife Jeanne is right now trying to make a 10-minute short film about zero gravity dance, to be titled "Stardance" even though it isn't directly based on our books. She's lined up some great talent: director Michael Lennick ("Rocket Science"), Hugo-winning artist Ron Miller, and brilliant composer James Raymond, son of David Crosby. For more info on how you can help, please go to www.spiderrrobinson.com and hit the STARDANCE PROJECT link.

_______________________

Kalispell, Mont: What is your take on the Project Serpo story? Science fiction or non-fiction?

Spider Robinson: sorry, don't know the reference...

_______________________

Columbus Ohio: Why is it that over the last few years, science fiction books are more and more the turf of a small enclave of die-hard scifi readers? Everyone watches scifi movies and TV shows, but sci-fi novels seem to have dwindled to a handful of authors writing stuff that the mainstream reader is less likely to be exposed to.

That, or more shovelware Jedi novels.

How come scifi isn't as popular with the larger book-reading populace anymore?

Spider Robinson: for some reason the reading public, enriched and empowered and their lives literally extended by high technology, have all simultaneously reached the decision that they do not wish to think any thoughts their great-grandfathers haven't already thought. I wish to God I knew why.

_______________________

Portland, Ore: Do you ever watch any SF movies or TV shows? If so, what have you liked or disliked?

Spider Robinson: My favorite science fiction TV show of all time is THE WEST WING. The way-out sf premise is that responsible people could infiltrate the US government in large numbers, that politicians could deserve their offices. What a thrilling dream! Of course they had to cancel it when reality diverged too far for us to maintain suspension of disbelief.

Beyond that, I liked Joss Wheedon's Firefly series and movie, and am presently working my way through Battlestar Galactica on DVD.

_______________________

Munich, Germany: How would you compare science fiction now with 25 or 30 years ago?

When I think back to the mid-70's and recall stuff like "2001 Space Odyssey", I'm reminded that many people thought that mankind would be doing amazing thinks in space travel by now, even colonizing other planets like Mars, and verifiable contact would have been made by now with UFOs.

Since that hasn't happened, do you think that today's science fiction buff is a bit more mature in his expectations, or are we all just better at the suspension of disbelief?

Spider Robinson: I think sf today is in a bit of a state of shock. Our dream of Man In Space seems to have been flatly rejected by the taxpayers, despite our best attempts to explain why it is necessary; our future energy needs are being pursued in the stupidest ways possible; ignorance is on the rise, and proud of itself. We used to assume that the race would keep getting smarter, and we're ambiguous about writing about the kind of future we see ahead. We've lost a lot of our optimism, and we're working hard to get it back again.

I refuse to lose my optimism..Jeanne and I have peddled hope our whole lives. But it ain't gettin' any easier....

_______________________

New York, NY: For a new Heinlein reader, where would you recommend I start?

Spider Robinson: Anywhere. Look at the plot summary on the back of the book (or on amazon.com) and pick one. Some are better than others.....but Robert didn't write ANY that weren't good.

_______________________

Sacramento, Calif: Second question, if there's time.

I'm not asking for specific information about your personal financial situation, but in general, is it possible for an author of your stature to make a six-figure living, and would you care to hazard a guess as to how many authors actually do make an upper-middle class living at writing?

Spider Robinson: No. Not even close. My impression is that most SF writers have a second job, just to reach LOWER-middle-class income status. I do not, and am just able to keep my head above water. Barely. Even though I've had an enormous amount of good luck....

This is a GREAT way to go broke, folks. But what else is there but to go for broke? It hurts more not to do it than to do it....

_______________________

Fairfax, Va: I hope to attend the book festival. I've enjoyed everything you have done. Not sure if my memory is right on this but was Matty in "Lasiter Bounty" purely fictional?

Spider Robinson: Sorry, Fairfax; I don't get the "Lasiter Bounty" reference.

_______________________

Silver Spring Md: How could Heinlein have had a granddaughter if he was childless?

Spider Robinson: She appointed herself, at age 11. During a lengthy illness she read all Robert's work, then wrote and asked if she could be his and Ginny's honorary granddaughter. They called her, chatted, were utterly charmed, tentatively said ok....and by the time of her death, Ginny had stopped using the "honorary" prefix in introducing Amy. Therefore so have I.

Dr. Amy Baxter, MD, was a great help to me in writing VARIABLE STAR. She sent me Robert's cufflinks...and one of Ginny's kimonos for Jeanne to wear for me....among other things. She and her husband Dr. Louis Calderon are now good friends of ours.

_______________________

Sringfield, Virginia...: Hello Mr. Robinson:

My name is Giao Nguyen and I am a psychiatrist. I have always wondered about telepathy and recently a friend of mine and I discussed about it. All I could say was I didn't know much about it. I have heard and read from both sides.

Can you give me some input on both sides of the matter as well? Thank you in advance.

Spider Robinson: I wish I knew more about it myself, Giao. I've brushed up against a few people in my life that I believe to have been telepaths. There's an old hippie preacher who knows more about it than I do: Stephen Gaskin. He has several books out; look for him on amazon.com or abebooks.com.

I know I YEARN for telepathy, like we all do. All I've managed to learn is that you approach telepathy by way of EMPATHY. Crank up your caring about someone else, and you'll find yourself becoming more telepathic. Forgiveness is the key, it seems. Jeanne (a Soto Zen Buddhist monk) and I use our marriage as our workshop in learning to become more telepathic; we haven't had perfect success, but we've been extremely happy for 31 years. That must mean something...

_______________________

Spider Robinson: Thanks to all of you who showed up. This has been most interesting....and the first online chat I've ever done that actually seemed to WORK.

I hope you'll all enjoy VARIABLE STAR, and VERY BAD DEATHS, and THE STARDANCE TRILOGY, all of which are being released this month.

Any further questions, send to spiderweb@shaw.ca, and I'll get back to you as soon as I get back home from this road trip I'm on.

My thanks to the Washington Post, and to Kim O'Donnel, without whom all of this would probably not have been possible, or as much fun.

See you "On The Way To The Stars!"

_______________________

Silver Spring, Md: You've been in the sci-fi business for quite a while now. How has your approach to writing changed since the beginning of your career, if at all? Do you have more or less confidence now?

Spider Robinson: I hve considerably more confidence than when I started in my own ability to write good stuff. At the same time, I have less and less confidence that the field will continue to pay me enough to live on until I drop in my tracks. Fewer and fewer people are reading sf....god help us.

Spider Robinson: Indeed, VARIABLE STAR coming along when it did seems almost like a gift from the spirits of Robert and Ginny: thanks to this huge recent whack of publicity and promotion, I may be able to hang on at this long enough to safely reach the grave. Thank you, Robert and Ginny!

Spider Robinson: I hope this answer already appeared; it's still here on my Unanswered screen...

_______________________

Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions. washingtonpost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties.