2011 Year-In-Review
Our biggest news of 2011 was the publication of "Therapeutic Mathematics and the Physics of Curve Balls" in the September 2011 issue of Analog Science Fiction & Fact. Some of the better reviews:
This SF/F story takes place in the early 1940s, right about the time J. Robert Oppenheimer's involvement in the Manhattan Project succeeded in changing the world forever. Who, other than Gray Rinehart ever imagined solving the final equation was due to the genius and youngest member of Fineas Ferguson's Fabulous Freakshow on his one, lonely, stolen day?
Sensitive character creation, believable atmosphere, clever conclusion. Well done. I enjoyed it.
-- Sherry Decker, in Tangent Online
A nicely told tale with a good sense of the time in which it was taking place.
-- Sam Tomaino in SFRevu
A rather nice tale with the bleakness of Joey's life in the show being counterpointed by flashbacks to his life with his father .... An uplifting tale.
-- UK reviewer John Fairhurst:
In other 2011 news, we got involved in filk -- fannish folk singing, i.e., writing and performing folk songs with a science fiction or fantasy focus. A few of our contributions are now on YouTube, and they've generally been well-received ... especially "The Monster Hunter Ballad".
How did we do on achieving our 2011 goals? Not bad:
- General Lifestyle. Continue last year's emphasis on "less pressure, more fun." As usual, the daily/weekly/monthly grind of juggling multiple jobs and various church functions made this one hard. Not an abject failure, but certainly no success ... call it even.
- Novel. Refine pitch and continue search for willing publisher. Still on the waiting list at a couple of houses.
- New novel. Complete outline and begin writing. Nothing.
- Short stories. Complete two or three stories and begin as many more. Completed four short stories this year, and revised a couple of old flash pieces along the way.
- Blog and web site. Maintain both with consistent quality updates and entries. Continue the series of occasional "space history" items. Done.
- Nonfiction. Revise one of the two complete-but-unpublished manuscripts and begin search for willing publisher. Completed the revision of The Elements of War.
- Baen Books job. Pick out only the best stories to forward to the publisher, present the most professional face to the public on Baen's behalf, and continue working through the backlog of old submissions. Success! Eliminated the backlog, with the exception of better submissions held for special review, AND had one of our recommendations contracted for publication.
- NC State job. Provide consistently excellent support to the IES Executive Director, teach Project Management and conduct "Promoting Business Excellence" assessments when possible, finish developing Risk Management course. Completed the first draft of an article on "Success-Oriented Risk Management." Completed one Probe assessment and assisted with a second. No joy on the Project Management front.
- North Cary Baptist Church worship leader role. Plan and present praise & worship experiences that are relevant and uplifting. Added something different to this in May, by singing a new song: "Having Failed to be Raptured, I Wrote This Stupid Song."
- Town of Cary Public Art Advisory Board role. Participate in meetings and other events, and represent views of other citizens on public art projects and installations. Term expired in September. Had a good run.