Creative amusements

Will you invent creative amusements, or run screaming berserk? I'm sure that's a real question for many people confined to quarters until further notice. Pandemic lockdown is a challenge, no matter who you are.

Families confined together get into each others' space and onto each others' nerves. Telecommuters struggle to balance work and family--or work and utter solitude. 

Essential workers don their masks each day like armor, then venture into a dangerous landscape where one thoughtless cough, like a ticking time bomb, could kill them this or next week.

Desperate times, they say, call for desperate measures. Or, sometimes, for creative amusements.

Above: Brooklyn's 7 Train and traffic below in pre-pandemic times. (uncredited photo from Medium)
Below: Almost the same scene, but with empty streets during the lockdown (Juan Arredondo for the New York Times).

A recipe for . . . ?

Creativity happens when divergent thinking runs up against a problem to solve. And oh my, do problems ever abound right now. I'm blessed to be one of the back-bench folks on this lockdown. I cheer from the cheap seats, but stay well out of the way while the real heroes do epic battle on the front lines. 

And I have plenty of creative work to do--I'm deep in final revisions on A Bone to Pick, the second book in the XK9 "Bones" Trilogy. And when I want to take a break there's always paper sculpture. But what about people confined to their homes or apartments, whose creative work is based somewhere else?

Our first three books are just the beginning. I'm working on A Bone to Pick now. (Weird Sisters Publishing).

I recently discovered two examples of just such people, and two very creative amusements. In each case they "made lemonade" from their less-than-ideal situations. I thought you might enjoy what they came up with.

A wedding photographer with no weddings to shoot

Chris Wallace of Carpe Diem Photography needed a wedding to photograph, but he had none. So he made up his own. Out of LEGOs. 

The resulting photo shoot not only gave a grown man an excellent excuse to play with plastic bricks and miniature figures, but when he posted the photos on his website he garnered memorable media and social media attention.

From his account of Florence and Fred's "magical day," and the assortment of wedding guests (who include, among many other notables, Chewbacca and Eleanor Twitty, the Library Ghost from Ghostbusters), it's clear Wallace had as much fun creating the event as we have viewing his photos.

See all these LEGO Wedding photos and many more by Chris Wallace, from My Modern Met and Carpe Diem Photography.

An artist, a museum curator, and two very cosmopolitan gerbils

It started as a Sunday project to mark a London-based couple's 14th day of quarantine. Before they were finished, artist Marianna Benetti and independent curator Filippo Lorenzin had turned it into an elaborate little gerbil-sized museum gallery.

They even created gerbil-centric masterpieces for the display (Oddly reminiscent of Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, Munch's The Scream, Klimt's The Kiss, and Da Vinci's Mona Lisa), and posted a highly futile "Please Don't Chew" sign.

Their two gerbils, Pandoro and Tiramisù, found plenty of interesting things to inspect, as documented in both still photography and a cute short video. 

Rude gallery patrons that they were, however, they not only chewed up a chair, but briefly gnawed on the "Don't Chew" sign itself. After all, gerbils just gotta chew.

These four "gerbils in the gallery" photos are from Marianna Benetti and Filippo Lorenzin, featuring their gerbils Pandoro and Tiramisù, via My Modern Met.

What creative amusements have you invented?

Here in Kansas City, we just got the word that we're probably going to continue on lockdown another three weeks beyond its original end-date. Schools are closed on both sides of the state line through the end of this school year.

We should have lots more time to get cabin fever, go stir crazy . . . and maybe think up some creative amusements, too. How about you?

IMAGE CREDITS: 

Many thanks to Medium for the view of Brooklyn's 7 Train and traffic below, pre-pandemic; almost the same scene after the lockdown photo is from the New York Times/Juan Arredondo.

The three Weird Sisters Publishing book covers (with artist credits) are from Weird Sisters Publishing's Our Books page.

The four photos of "Florence and Fred's" LEGO wedding are by Chris Wallace of Carpe Diem Photography, via My Modern Met. Many thanks!

The four "gerbils in the gallery" photos are from Marianna Benetti and Filippo Lorenzin, featuring their gerbils Pandoro and Tiramisù, via My Modern Met. Deepest gratitude!

Time to re-pack the load

Sometimes the pack-saddle shifts, the camel stumbles, and it's time to re-pack the load. In my case it was myself as a metaphorical camel (no animals harmed. No crazy ladies, either). But the load was increasingly real.

Not overloaded, we hope--just resting. This camel photo is courtesy of ABC News (no photographer credited).

Confident predictions doomed

This week on The Weird Blog I was supposed to tell you about the availability of Deep Ellum Pawn in print. Sadly, I can't. Because it isn't (yet). I can still promise that it will be, but I've endured enough technical glitches in the past week to restrain any confident predictions of exactly when.

This week on my Artdog Adventures blog, I was planning to plunge into the world of video production. Not unlike my friend Lynette Burrows (scroll down on her post), that didn't exactly go as planned, either. It probably still will happen, but I've also endured enough technical glitches in this realm to back cautiously away from smiling assertions.

I've encountered a lot of detours this week.

Many thanks to Wise Famous Quotes for this gem from Mary Kay Ash.

An accumulation of odd jobs

Have you ever been on a hike with a child (or a crazy lady who should know better), who's a packrat at heart? Walk along the trail, and periodically she'll find a pretty leaf or an interesting rock or some other little bit of spontaneous wonderfulness that she just has to bring home.

Pretty soon her pockets are bulging (or yours are), and the accumulated load begins to weigh something. The realization gradually dawns: "Oh, just one more! It won't take much space. And isn't that just the coolest thing?" is a trap.

It's the same with interesting new projects, or shiny new responsibilities. "Sure, that won't take too much extra time," or, "I'd love to help with that," or, "I bet I could improve on how that's done," can turn into excellent opportunities you'll always be glad you accepted. They also can start to weigh you down.

Many thanks to More Famous Quotes for this observation from Gail Sheehy.

Time to re-pack the load

Sooner or later, the camel stumbles. The pocket's seam pops. Or a deadline just can't be met. Our metaphorical camel has balked at that daunting, final straw.

Eventually, it's time to re-pack the load.

This week, that's what happened to me. But re-packing all of exactly the same old baggage puts us right back in exactly the same old pickle we had before. Each "coolest thing" and each shiny new project carries "weight" in the form of a time commitment, as well as possible financial cost. It's time to rethink priorities.

Which one is the sparkliest rock? The most important job? Which will you most regret leaving behind on the trail, and which will carry you more fruitfully in the direction you really want to go? Gotta leave a few "cool things" behind, sometimes, if you're gonna make it home with your pockets intact and a place for each thing when you get there.

Many thanks to "Inspire 99" for this unattributed quote.

IMAGE CREDITS: The photo of the resting camel is from ABC news (no photographer credited). Many thanks to Wise Famous Quotes for the gem from Mary Kay Ash, to More Famous Quotes for the observation from Gail Sheehy, and to "Inspire 99" for the unattributed quote about knowing where to make the effort.

I've been published again! "The Other Side of Fear" is out!

This is a re-blog of a post about my book The Other Side of Fear, that went live yesterday on The Weird Blog. It's from my publisher, Weird Sisters Publishing.

We've teased you about The Other Side of Fear for the past couple of weeks--first with a front cover reveal, and then with a sample from Chapter One. 

Today Weird Sisters Publishing is proud to announce the arrival (sort of) of Jan S. Gephardt's new book, The Other Side of Fear!  It's now available in the Kindle Store. Other outlets may still "processing" it.

But we can give you more glimpses.

What's it about, anyway?

Here's the official book description for The Other Side of Fear:

Does she have what it takes?

Orangeboro police officer Pamela Gómez took her own dare. Now she’s headed planetside, to meet the challenge of her life.

XK9s are the newest, most powerful tool in law enforcement, but these super-dogs need human partners. The Orangeboro Police Department has purchased ten XK9s. Only an elite corps of officers will be chosen as their handlers.

Pam’s never had a dog, never left her home space station, and never thought of herself as an “elite” anything, but she took the courses, passed the tests, and made the cut. Now she’s an XK9 partner-candidate, bound for Planet Chayko, despite all her fears.

Does she have what it takes to handle an XK9? The answer to that will take her places she never dared to dream about.

Here's the complete cover for The Other Side of Fear

The Other Side of Fear cover art © 2020 by Lucy A. Synk.

You already know how we worked with artist Lucy A. Synk on this cover, developing the concept and sweating the small stuff. Right down to "What does an ashasata look like?" and "Who are all the people in the background?"

It's a book--but a book with a really tiny spine. The spine width on this wraparound cover art provided an exercise in miniaturization. The book only weighed in at 100 pages (after all, it's a novella, not a full novel). For those who haven't read What's Bred in the Bone, there's also a preview of Chapter One at the end.

But our Art Director hates to see a blank spine on a book, even if it's a skinny one. Wait till you see her tackle Deep Ellum Pawn. That's next up. If all goes well, Deep Ellum Pawn will be available in paperback and wide release by this time next week!

The Other Side of Fear Is now available!

The Kindle Store now has this title available. Keep checking your Barnes & Noble account, or hop onto Jan's Amazon Author Page. You should find it there soon!

IMAGE CREDIT: Many thanks to artist Lucy A. Synk for the cover artwork, which is © 2020 by Lucy A. Synk, all rights reserved.

Representation and social transformation

The Artdog Quotes of the Week

How does representation play a role in social transformation? Last week's Monday post explored stereotypes and the power of portrayal. Now let's tackle social transformation.

Make no mistake. Society is always transforming. Social change happens, whether we want it to or not. And individually we can't control how it changes.

No, the creators of content can't change basic facts of human existence. But we can affect how people think about those facts, for well or ill. (This quote-image featuring Ellen DeGeneres is courtesy of FCKH8 on Twitter).

One person's efforts rarely provide a huge pivot point, unless that one person speaks for thousands, and society was ripe for the change. Case in point: #MeToo. That one was way overdue!

What kind of future do you want?

We can't control the changes. But we can affect how things change. 

What kind of future do you want? As creative people, we make art that comments on how things are and how things could be. If you think a more broadly representative world would be more fair and interesting, reflect that in your art.

Subverting the stereotypes

If you think harmful stereotypes should be questioned, treat them like the clichés they are. Turn them inside out. Subvert them. Transform them into something fresh and unexpected and better.

It can take guts to "call people on their stuff" and challenge stereotypes. But artistic integrity demands it. (This quote-image from Rosie Perez is courtesy of The Huffington Post).

That's just basic sound practice--but you're also making a statement by the way you make the transformation.

Please note that this approach requires awareness. Creative people fall into tropes, clichés and stereotyped thinking when they don't recognize them for what they are. We all have unconscious biases. But we owe it to ourselves, our work, and our fans to learn about them and challenge them.

Representation and social transformation

Wider and more diverse representation is essential to the social transformations that I would love to see come about. I have my own ways to portray that, particularly in the stories I write.

Artists need to seize the power of portrayal. (This quote-image from Gina Rodriguez is courtesy of The Huffington Post).

There are as many possible approaches as there are artists. Some, such as those in the Solarpunk movement, seek to portray the benefits of positive future change.

Writers, artists, filmmakers and others with a more dystopic bent often dramatize how badly things can go wrong. Perhaps as a cautionary tale. Or because they're pessimists. Or because conflict is inherent in a dystopic plotline.

Everyone takes an individual path, because each of us has our own unique voice. We must let the world hear our visions, presented from our own perspectives, in our own voices.

What values do you seek to embrace? What negative outcomes do you hope we avoid?

IMAGE CREDITS:

Many thanks to  FCKH8 on Twitter and The Huffington Post for the quote-images in this post.

Creating a cover with Lucy A. Synk: a cover reveal

(Cover Artwork © 2020 by Lucy A. Synk)

Creating a cover with Lucy

Lucy painted the first Wizards' Worlds cover. She corresponded
with Andre Norton several times while the author was living. (artwork © by Lucy A. Synk)

I sort of wandered sideways into creating a cover with Lucy A. Synk. Lucy's a wonderful fantasy and media-portrait artist whose work I discovered at science fiction convention art shows in the 1980s. She also painted professional illustrations and book covers back in the day.

She and I were friendly acquaintances when she lived in the Kansas City area. But ironically our friendship really took off after she moved away. We discovered how much fun it was to talk with each other on the phone, and the rest is history.

Although she and I haven't lived in the same town in decades, today I count her as one of my dearest friends. We travel to places "partway between" to meet for the occasional face-to-face gabfest, and we've shared many adventures over the years.

Lucy's been there since the beginning of the XK9s

Naturally, she reads drafts of my writing projects in their developmental stages. She offered insights and unflagging encouragement throughout the many, many, many, many early drafts of What's Bred in the Bone (that's why her name is on the dedication page).

Lucy created "Doggie-Back Rides," featuring Rex with Charlie's niece Lacey, mostly for fun.
(artwork © 2018 by Lucy A. Synk)

But she had by then moved into other realms with her artwork, and expressed no interest in illustrating my stories, other than the occasional, small whimsical drawing. Ever creating a cover with Lucy seemed out of the question.

Until one day it wasn't, anymore. I started in my role as Art Director for Weird Sisters Publishing, Lucy's job situation changed, and I finished the manuscript of my soon-to-be-released novella The Other Side of Fear.

The novella depicts events that happened before the action in What's Bred in the Bone, when the XK9s and their future partners met on the planet Chayko. The story's action follows Shady's eventual partner, Pamela Gómez, and her personal evolution. Lucy had been reading each draft, advising me on the development of the story . . . and cooking up visual ideas.

A creative collaboration

My favorite way to work with a cover artist is to have them read the manuscript, consider the story and how to visually express it, then tell me how they'd like to approach it.

I generally have my own ideas, but the artist knows his or her own vision and capabilities best. The folks I've worked with so far also understand the "postage-stamp poster" nature of a book cover. Creating a cover with Lucy or any other artist becomes a creative collaboration.


In this case, Lucy had a very clear idea. There are two pivotal scenes in the story that happen near a bonfire at night. She wanted to use the dramatic lighting at these important moments to create a dynamic cover.

Here's Lucy's first sketch of the "bonfire scene." (artwork © 2019 by Lucy A. Synk)

With the concept approved, Lucy moved to the tonal study. (artwork © 2019 by Lucy A. Synk)

Next she created the first color rough of the most important part of the scene. (artwork © 2019 by Lucy A. Synk).

What does an "ashasata" look like?

Most of the action in The Other Side of Fear takes place on Planet Chayko, under the watchful eyes of the XK9 Project's trainers and officials. Chayko is an exo-Terrestrial planet that humans were allowed to colonize because repeated meteor bombardments had reduced the native life-forms to pre-sapient levels. But it still has a breathable atmosphere, a similar mass (thus, gravity), a G-type star, and many other Earth-like aspects that allow humans to flourish there.

The humans installed a shield to repel the meteor-strikes, then settled in. They brought Earth plants and animals, but never completely terraformed the planet. Instead, it's a patchwork of native, more "primordial" organisms alongside the imports from Earth.

Lucy, with her decade of work in natural history illustrations, has been having a wonderful time advising me and co-conspiring with me about how native Chaykoan life-forms look. One general type of organism that is mentioned repeatedly in The Other Side of Fear is the ashasatas. They are brachiated life-forms that fill a niche similar to Earth's trees.


But what do they look like? The bonfire scenes take place in a rustic setting at the edge of an ashasata forest. We could've blurred the details back into the shadows and "faked it," but Lucy wanted to explore the idea. Ashasatas, she suggested, would look more like the earlier treelike plants on earth. She led me on a journey through the paleobotany of conifers, to the Chilean Monkey Puzzle Tree (yes, this is how nerds have fun).

Monkey Puzzle Trees (Araucaria) at night, lit from below--living fossils that provided a perfect model for our Ashasatas at the bonfire. Note: they are the Chilean national tree (Lucy found this photo somewhere. I haven't been able to locate the source).

Pulling it all together

Once we figured out what ashasatas look like, Lucy was able to finish the cover painting in the correct proportions. Here's a look at the painting without the words all over it.

Here's the finished painting, before I put in all the typography. Lucy can tell you who every person in the background crowd is. (artwork © 2020 by Lucy A. Synk)

She ultimately reduced the size of the crowd behind Shady. For those of you who've read What's Bred in the Bone, can you guess which of them are Dr. Ordovich, Dr. Imre the Breeding Coordinator, and Chief Klein?

Other characters whom you'll meet in The Other Side of Fear are Randy the Education Director and other partner-candidates. Lucy can tell you who everyone is.

I hope you've enjoyed this look at the process of creating a cover with Lucy A. Synk. We've discussed a lot of other ideas and projects, so look for more artwork from her in the future!

Weird Sisters Publishing released The Other Side of Fear In wide distribution on March 31, 2020. If you'd like a FREE e-copy, you can get one if you subscribe to Jan's monthly newsletter!

IMAGE CREDITS: Many thanks to Lucy A. Synk for all of these images.

The power of portrayal

What is the power of portrayal? Why is it important that we see ourselves in the pictures, the fiction, and the media that surround us?

Because people define themselves in reaction to, and in relation to, what they perceive around them. All of us are suggestible, to one degree or another. We react to peer pressure, and to social norms.

The messages we send

This quote-image from Salma Hayek is courtesy of The Huffington Post.

All creative people should consider the issue of representation. Our creative products, be they songs, visuals, stories, or other things, send messages. I've considered aspects of these in two recent posts, Who gets represented, and Owning our "own voices."

Unfortunately, for many years the only messages our dominant media have been sending about diverse groups are tropes and stereotypes.

Many thanks to The Huffington Post for this quote-image from Nate Parker.

While all too many of the reasons for these arise from overt racism, I'm convinced that a lot of them come from a profound lack of awareness by creatives or gatekeepers, and falling back on unthinking clichés. I blogged about this a while back, too.

What kind of clichés am I talking about?

Rita Moreno has been dealing with negative stereotypes for decades. It's not a new problem. (Quote-image courtesy of The Huffington Post).

I mean the stock characters that always seem to come with an ethnic tag. The Muslim terrorist. For a long time (at least since 9/11) there's hardly been any other kind in the US media. The undocumented Mexican. How about the inscrutable Asian? Or the hostile Indian (Native American). The list is seemingly endless, and it skews sharply negative.

Thank goodness, we're becoming more aware that these are bad. No, I'm not just being "politically correct." That's a term invented by easily-frightened people who are afraid of losing their privilege, or at least their perceived "right" not to care how others feel. In an interconnected society like ours, lack of empathy is an insidious social poison.

Many thanks to The Huffington Post for this quote-image from Octavia Spencer.

Negative stereotypes and stock characters are bad because we tend to believe what we see. Even if we are confronted in our daily lives with examples to the contrary, repetition of a negative trope/message can interfere with our perceptions. And believing harmful things about others in our society weakens society as a whole.

The power of portrayal

It's not "harmless," just because it's fiction. On the contrary, we craft fiction for a powerful emotional impact. Negative messages are actually more harmful when when clothed in popular fiction, because of their intensity and reach.

The power of portrayal lies in its pervasive, persuasive impact. Children are more susceptible to harm from negative portrayals, because they are less sophisticated and more impressionable. But negative depictions harm all of us, no matter who we are or what groups we belong to. They tear at the fabric of society, and can devastate self-image.

Bottom line to creative people in all media: educate yourself, so you're not caught unaware. Understand that you are more powerful than you may think. Respect the power of portrayals in your work.

Many thanks to GLAAD, for this quote-image from Sarah Kate Ellis.

IMAGE CREDITS: 

Many thanks to The Huffington Post, which published the features that provided four of these posts. They are "18 Times Black Actors Nailed Why We Need Representation in Film," and its sidebar slide show (scroll to the bottom), "16 Times Latinos Were Brutally Honest about Hollywood's Lack of Diversity." The quote-image from Sarah Kate Ellis is courtesy of GLAAD.

Owning our "own voices"

The Artdog Quote(s) of the Week

Who owns our voices? If you run in the circles I do, you're aware of the "own voices" movement, which has been growing since 2015. It started in children's books, but it's reaching far beyond that now, because it's a sound idea.

In simplest terms, as Blue Crow Publishing lays it out, "'Own voices' means that if you are writing a main character who is part of marginalized group, you are part of that marginalized group."

(image quote courtesy of a tumblr that no longer exists, via Pinterest)

It's a simple, elegant, empowering idea

For so many, many years, marginalized voices went unheard. Drawing on Blue Crow's explanation above, if, for example, you were a trans* person writing about a trans* main character in the past, you wouldn't even be able to get published at all.  The gatekeepers were all white cis folk who didn't have a clue about the issues, drama, and authentic visions of trans* persons.

Heck, most of the traditional media still have a problem letting more marginalized voices speak up. Remember #Oscarssowhite? That was a few years ago (2015), but it seems the lessons keep on having to be re-learned.

Sorry to all the wishful thinkers. No, we are not yet "post-racial." We have a long, long, long way to go, before we get there.

I remain convinced that until the rise of indie publishing, and the success of niche markets such as gay erotica (which doesn't even seem so "niche" any more), we would have seen the "own voices" movement rise even more slowly.

(Photo from the Huffington Post)

Why are authentic "own voices" needed?

Environmental science, biology, history, business experience, and common sense all teach us the same lesson. A diverse community brings a variety of strengths to the table. More approaches. More interesting meetings of minds and cultures and perspectives. Diverse communities are stronger and more adaptable. Yet humans' instinct for tribalism fights this truth.

Likewise, intellectual communities are more adaptable, versatile, and robust when they accept many inputs. Our own individual world-views are deepened and enhanced by knowledge of wider ranges of possibility. When we pay attention to writers who tell their own stories and speak in their own voices, our understandings expand.

I recently blogged on my publisher's website about the book American Dirt, and the need to read works by people who really know what they're writing about. Such accounts tend (when well-written) to be more powerful and more realistic. And interesting.

(Photo from the Huffington Post).

IMAGE CREDITS:

Many thanks to a tumblr that no longer appears to exist, via Pinterest, for the Rosario Dawson image-quote. I also thank The Huffington Post, which published the features that provided two of these posts. They are "18 Times Black Actors Nailed Why We Need Representation in Film," and its sidebar slide show (scroll to the bottom), "16 Times Latinos Were Brutally Honest about Hollywood's Lack of Diversity."