Live from San Francisco

... the weather here is beautiful ... enjoyed last night's visit with The Next Generation ... but I miss Portland already ...

New Fiction

... yes, it's a new story ... first two installments already posted here, much more to come ... finally got a pretty clear idea of all the characters, their universe, and how i want the plot to go ... but still a lot to discover ... that discovery only happens in the process of writing ...

... one person commented that they saw death as being a common theme in my writing, which seems strange to me ... if my fiction is "about" anything, i think it's the repudiation of death and the conscious decision to embrace life ... but of course each person will see it in their own way ...

Where the Night Water Runs

Once I chased a dream, a bird song,
a peacock feather,
through midnight down to the lapping water
silver crickets like ear-stars singing
all along the fields where fieldmice hide.
There is no place to go
but down to where the night water runs,
and runs black and slow,
slow like feet running in a dream.
Kind water, sweet and black
whispering, "I take nothing back.
I only go on."
The dream was really a beast
covered by night; I did not know,
and I followed the rank smell far,
too far away,
to find it, large
and turning, white clawed and snorting
too awful for fear,
too awful for running,
the song of my living too awful for fear -
and now to go on,
walking;
dawn is near.

- Stephanie McLintock (1964-1992)

New Default User Pic

This one actually looks like me.

(Well, a little.)

Like and Equal

Spent this evening with TNG watching "A Wrinkle in Time" on the video. The little guy made an admirable effort to follow it, but I think it was a little old for him. At 10 (tomorrow's his b'day) he is very bright but he is geared to fast-paced cartoons more than character-based SF drama. Even so, he was watching the last 45 minutes or so pretty intently - the scenes of Camazotz were very impressive visually.

I was glad TNG got to hear Meg deliver her classic line, "Like and equal are not the same!" When I read the book as a kid, I found this very profound; now as an adult, even more so. This is the great truth that undermines the big lie of totalitarianism.

We do not have to be "alike" to be of equal value. On the contrary, our distinct and unique pieces of the great dream enhance one another's worth. I don't expect The Next Generation to be a clone of me, and I don't want him to be. I want him to be who he is, to be who he can become.