Poetry Fishbowl on Tuesday, August 6
This is an advance announcement for the Tuesday, August 6, 2019 Poetry Fishbowl. This time the theme will be "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." I'll be soliciting ideas for end users, new users, geeks, mechanics, designated users, inventors, Super-Gizmologists, living ships, futuristic soldiers, shysters, minions and masters/mistresses, apprentices, explorers, other people who use (or try to use, or purport to use) advanced technology, inventing tools, exploring new discoveries, creating connections, coming of age, learning what you can (and can't) do, frob twiddle and tweak, bending the laws of physics, accomplishing the impossible, recovering from setbacks, laboratories, factories, courtrooms, military bases, battlefields, supervillain lairs, police stations, public institutions, alien planets, alternate dimensions, cyberspace, other places where technology advances, gizmos, super-gizmos, ansibles, sufficiently advanced artifacts, other exotic devices, exotic materials (such as phlebotinum and unobtanium), quantum mechanics, mysterious archaeological artifacts, magical artifacts, instruction manuals (or lack thereof), user agreements, sorcery using the idiom of science, apprenticeship, fraud, free will, personal growth, determination, imprint vulnerability, failure, success, rites of passage, levels of civilization, and poetic forms in particular.
I'm also allowing the inverse: "Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology." Some nations in The Ocracies, like the Plutocracy of Aurea, have built much of their civilization on this.
Among my more relevant series for the main theme:
Frankenstein's Family involves early-idiom science that can do some things modern-science can't.
The Godship Wanderers features a living ship and a variety of alien technology unfamliar to the characters.
Laquerware is Edopunk about technology built in layers.
P.I.E. is urban fantasy where magic and technology sometimes mix.
Polychrome Heroics has a great deal of gizmology and super-gizmology, along with some people whose superpowers blend magic and science.
The Steamsmith features alchemy instead of the science that underlies our world, which looks magical but follows the principles of scientific method.
The Blueshift Troupers is far-future SF featuring some alien technology, including hiveships and jumpgates, that nobody really knows how it works.
Schrodinger's Heroes is quantum science fiction about saving the world from alternate dimensions. What Alex does with the laws of physics can look like magic to anyone else.
Or you can ask for something new.
I have a linkback poem "Respecting Fire" (8 verses, standalone).
If you're interested, mark the date on your calendar, and please hold actual prompts until the "Poetry Fishbowl Open" post next week. (If you're not available that day, or you live in a time zone that makes it hard to reach me, you can leave advance prompts. I am now.) Meanwhile, if you want to help with promotion, please feel free to link back here or repost this on your blog.
Writing is usually considered a solitary pursuit. One exception to this is a fascinating exercise called a "fishbowl." This has various forms, but all of them basically involve some kind of writing in public, usually with interaction between author and audience. A famous example is Harlan Ellison's series of "stories under glass" in which he sits in a bookstore window and writes a new story based on an idea that someone gives him. Writing classes sometimes include a version where students watch each other write, often with students calling out suggestions which are chalked up on the blackboard for those writing to use as inspiration.
I'm going to host a Poetry Fishbowl on my blog on Tuesday, August 6. I'll be soliciting ideas for thematic characters, plots, settings, objects, and poetic forms in particular. Chances are I'll spend a good chunk of the day, from afternoon to evening or more, alternating between this site and doing stuff offline so my back doesn't weld itself to the chair.
Perks: I will post at least one of the resulting fishbowl poems on the blog for everyone to enjoy, and an extra one if there's at least one new prompter or donor. The rest will be available for audience members to buy, and whatever's left over will go into my archive for magazine submission.
If donations total $100 then you get a free $15 poem; $150 gets you a free $20 poem; and $200 gets you a free epic, posted after the Poetry Fishbowl. These will usually be series poems if I have them; otherwise I may offer non-series poems or series poems in a different size. If donations reach $250, you get one step toward a bonus fishbowl; four of these activates the perk, and they don't have to be four months in a row. Everyone will get to vote on which series, and give prompts during the extra fishbowl, although it may be a half-day rather than a whole day. If donations reach $300, there will be a half-price sale in one series.
I want to promote linkbacks pointing people to the "Fishbowl Open" post on Tuesday. I have a spare series poem available, and each linkback will reveal a verse of "Respecting Fire" (standalone). One person can do multiple links if they're on different services, like Twitter or LiveJournal, rather than all on Dreamwidth.
(See the complete list of current perks.)
If you enjoy my poetry -- or if you just love poetry in general, or want to promote interest in technology and magic -- please mark the fishbowl date on your calendar. Drop by and give me some ideas, comment on the posted poetry, encourage people to come look, whatever tickles your fancy. I hope to see you then!