Titanic

The day Alex met a mermaid was unusual only for the fact that the person she was complaining too actually agreed with her.

"I think he's just not interested in my project anymore. I mean, you'd think he'd want me to go for that fellowship. He's certainly making a big enough deal about Gregori applying." Alex pushed her fingers over the keyboard, distracting herself from the constriction in her chest. She had two more published papers than Gregori and a patent in her name. That ought to count for something. Somehow it never seemed to.

"Yeah, he'd kinda been a dick to you lately. I mean, Schmidt's always an ass to girls but up until lately he kinda overlooked your gender...hey, I think I can see the bow." James sat up as straight as he ever did as the pale ghost emerged from the inky black. The constriction in Alex's chest warred with her excitement as the almost unchanged form of the Titanic swept through the view screen. It looked just like the videos Alex had watched obsessively since high school, only this time it was live and Alex was sitting next to the guy piloting the ROV. Alex wanted to whoop with joy, to dance around the lab, to kiss James square on the lips. This was so far from where she thought robotics would take her, some days she still felt like pinching herself.

She closed her laptop and turned her full attention to James' screen.

"You know, you could be a little more excited," James said. 

"And how do you know I'm not excited?"

In trademark James style, he raised a single eyebrow.

A grin tugged at the corners of her mouth. She gave in and smiled. "Whatever. Let's test out this baby. We've got to look for some suitably delicate task to test the fingers and then we can move into the vessel. Can you move through that opening there?"

"Here you go." James waved the joystick under Alex's nose.

She looked at him for a split second then snatched the joystick from his fingers.

"I knew you were excited."

"Shut up."

For two hours they tooled around the Titanic, cataloging. The robot's fingers worked perfectly, gently sifting delicate articles from the ooze. Once or twice Alex let go enough to smile.

"This is awesome. The fingers are still working perfectly, even at these pressures. This'll be another paper for sure." Alex shared one of her rare smiles with James.

"Hey congrats, I'm gonna hit the head. Don't find anything exciting without me, 'k?" James didn't wait for her response.

She turned back to her work. Of course he wouldn't be excited for her. 

An open door in a lower deck beckoned. Inside she found a simple room filled with what must have been barracks for the third class passengers. As she rotated around the ROV kicked up fines, momentarily turning everything white.

Pale fins flashed across the screen. Big fins, moving fast. Alex caught a breath. There shouldn't be anything big down that far. Perhaps something swam close. Perhaps she was a little tired. She leaned back and closed her eyes for a moment, rationalizing she needed to wait for the sediment to settle out anyway.

Refreshed and calm, Alex slowly, carefully moved the ROV into the room. A jumbled mass of something caught her attention--could it be someone's belongings? A body? It was morbid, she knew, but she would love to discover the remains of one of the passengers. She also knew the prospect was basically nil with the way organics decomposed under water.

The deft fingers of the robot fished a man's satchel out of the ooze, still intact after more than a hundred years. With everything that water corrupted it was amazing that some things were so well preserved. She made a note of the position of the satchel and the time on the video feed and ordered the robot to place the satchel in the basket. The arms moved slowly through beams of light.

Ghostly, freakishly white hands opened the bag and pulled out a pocket watch and disappeared.

Alex's heart beat loudly in her chest and her head felt like it was full of bees. She wanted to rewind the feed, to see if she'd really just hands--human hands--rumaging through the belongings of a dead person. She wrote down the time stamp, vowing she'd look it up when the dive was finished, when doing so wouldn't compromise the record.

The hands returned, accompanied by a face and body. And a tail.

The last graduate student Alex knew of who had claimed to see a mermaid left science soon after to become an organic farmer somewhere in the Midwest. Suddenly Alex wondered if she still had his email address somewhere.

The mermaid wasn't beautiful. It looked like a bloated corpse, like a zombie more than a creature capable of luring sailors to their doom. Its gender was indeterminate, its hair twisted and matted and full of things Alex was sure were once living.

The mermaid held up the watch and opened it, showing the broken face to the ROV. It pantomimed pushing the button down a couple of times then pushed the watch into the robot's fingers. It blew a kiss at the camera, then swam away, kicking up clouds of detritus.

Alex stared at the screen for a few moments. She shook her head, then ordered the robot to resume putting the satchel and watch into the basket. A sourness settled in her stomach, like she'd stayed up too late. She couldn't possibly risk such an amazing find, especially for a figment of her imagination.

The hands came back and snatched the watch away. The mermaid swam back into view, stuck its barnacled tongue out at her, and again pantomimed pushing the button on the watch. With a sharp swat of its hand it again replaced the watch and swam off.

Ah, so the thing was watching. Alex didn't want to damage the priceless relic with the robot's hands, but definitely didn't want to explain that a mythical creature's capricious behavior was responsible. Choosing the lesser of two evils she clicked.

The mermaid's barnacled tongue was out. It pantomimed pushing the button, replaced the watch in the grasp of the robot and swam away.

She waited and clicked again.

The mermaid was replacing the watch. It swam away, stirring up sediment just as before.

Alex looked at her own watch then pushed again.

Ten seconds were returned to her.

"Hah, you didn't listen to me. Good for you. That pocket watch is impressive." James leaned over her chair. His cheap cologne made her suddenly nauseous.

Alex looked up at him. "Can I tell you something?"

"Sure."

"I saw a mermaid."

"What? You're crazy."

Alex clicked.

"...didn't listen to me. Good for you. That pocket watch is impressive." James leaned over her chair. His cheap cologne made her nauseous again.

"It's a magic pocket watch. When I click it time rewinds ten seconds."

James smirked and rolled his eyes. "We haven't been awake THAT long."

Alex clicked.

"...for you. That pocket watch is impressive." James leaned over her chair.

Alex said, "I'm pregnant. Schmidt knows."

She clicked.

Too bad it's only 10 seconds.

My Little Pony

Yes, I know. If ever there was a title to make other people run screaming it's that one. Nevertheless, I'm going to talk about "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic," the most recent incarnation of My Little Pony.

'Cause it's really quite good.

A couple of years ago I made the mistake of watching some old episodes of "Transformers." Actually, I should say I attempted to watch *an* episode of "Transformers." I couldn't force myself to sit through an entire 22 minutes of that incoherent, illogical excuse for entertainment. (Really explained a lot about the movies, though.) Since then I've shied away from re-watching any other childhood favorites for fear of spoiling my pleasant memories.

My daughter loves TV (or youtube, since that's really how we watch things) and one of the things she's gotten into is My Little Pony. At first I wasn't all that keen on her watching them. Honestly, I'm still not all that keen on her watching them overmuch; but as TV goes, I'm fairly happy with her watching My Little Pony. The plots are coherent and diverse--there's a good mix between interpersonal relationship plots, bad guy plots, and self-discovery plots. The characters have distinct, consistent voices and personalities. I don't actually watch the show often--mostly I turn it on and let my daughter watch it while I do something else like clean. But I listen frequently and even without the voice acting the characters have distinct voices. I'm definitely impressed by the quality of the writing.

The only aspect of the show I think keeps it from being appropriate for older kids/adults is the fact that the villains have simple, superficial motivations. As an adult I roll my eyes, but for a kid that's probably developmentally exactly right. Makes me feel ever so slightly better about letting her watch brain-rotting TV.

Premonition

A few nights ago I watched the movie, "Premonition," with Sandra Bullock and the guy who was the demon husband in "Charmed." It's a story about a woman who wakes up one morning and is told her husband died the previous day. The next morning she wakes up and he's still alive. The next morning he's dead again and she's going to the funeral; then he's alive and they're one day close to the day he dies in a car accident.

It's not the happiest of movies. It's also not the most consistent of movies. Things that have happened don't always show up when they should chronologically. The most glaring is that the daughter runs through a window (a rather amazing feat in and of itself) and the mom doesn't 'remember' because it hasn't happened yet, but nobody else remembers either even though supposedly time is moving normally for them. I suppose the implication could be that what the Sandra Bullock character chooses in her past days makes a difference in the future days, but mostly it comes across as inconsistent.

Anyway, the thing that really bugs me about the movie isn't even the plot; it's Sandra Bullock's character. They show her as a hard-working, more or less on top of things stay at home mom. She obviously takes her job seriously and she does a good job. Except when she doesn't, like when she, in the future, puts up stickers on the windows and then, because she's already done it in the future she forgets to do it in the past, leading to her daughter's accidental through the window incident. Which her husband then blames her for. Now, perhaps I should again be generous to the writers and assume they're showing how dysfunctional the relationship is between the husband and wife, but it still didn't sit right with me.

And then there's the seduction scene. Bullock's character, realizing she wants to fight for her marriage ('cause is there any other choice to make in Hollywood?) seduces her husband. By kneeling in front of him and taking off his shoes. It's all very traditional, very submissive, almost biblical in its imagery.

Not to spoil the ending here, but I'm going to. Bullock decision to fight for her family causes the accident that kills her husband. If she'd trusted him (which it turns out was warranted), if she'd just let things happen, if she'd somehow just been less feminine and less hysterical he would have gone on his trip, driven safely past mile marker 220, and he wouldn't have died. But don't worry, she got pregnant from that last night with hubby so she does at least have one last kid to remember her husband with.

How sweet.

As a stay at home mom I wasn't overly offended by the portrayal of Bullock as a really reasonably effective family manager. The only place she falls down is getting her kids to school on time, which I'd find completely understandable. The eldest daughter's chastising her mother for being late is a little unrealistic and does kinda show where the mom is in the family pecking order, though.

The rest of it, though, is annoying. Bullock does the typical movie "I'm not going to talk to my husband even though I should" thing. She's treated as hysterical by everyone around her. She IS hysterical much of the time, and it's frustrating--they have her doing some really smart things to try and figure out what's going on, but they don't allow her to be smart enough or emotionally detached/stable enough to really figure things out. I wanted her to be smart enough to figure it out, but they just didn't make her that smart. Or perhaps allow her to be that smart.

So, not quite an anti-female movie, but really not a movie that left a good taste in my mouth.

Journey to the other side of the Earth

We have completed our journey through the center of the Earth and emerged on the other side in the hamlet of Adelaide, Australia. I will not bore you with the details of our travails across boiling rivers of molten lava, through underground seas filled with the most fantastic of beasts, and through enormous caverns filled with beautiful crystals twice the height of a man; suffice it to say, we have arrived safe and whole.

True to astral predictions, it is summer here, and a very pleasant one at that. Other predictions (namely, that the citizens on the other side of the world walk on their hands) have proven fortunately false. I am glad I will not have to re-learn to type with my toes as this will speed my return to writing and corresponding with those of you we have left behind in our beloved homeland.

With much affection,

Mrs. H-------

Merry Christmas!

And now that the holiday is over, my family is descending on me. So, don't expect much in terms of writing.

In fact, since I'm moving to Australia in about three weeks, I'm just going to accept that writing is very much a secondary concern right now. I'd love to have a few hours when I'm not exhausted from taking care of my kids to reconnect with my writing, but I'm not going to count on them.

So, instead, I'm going to relax, enjoy the last few weeks I have here in the winter of San Diego with friends and a known place, and not worry about anything else.

If you see anything from me here for the next couple of months, it'll be a gift.

Covert Affairs

My husband loves TV. I love TV. The problem I have with TV is that if one is on in the same room with me, I get sucked in to the point that I can't get anything else done. That, or I read/blog/infotain myself. Being productive, not so much an option.

Fortunately, there's a lot of really good TV out there. One of my favorites lately is Covert Affairs. It's a spy show, and I liked it from the beginning, but the characters and their interactions are getting to be so rich and feel so real lately. I almost wonder if they've brought in new writers, or if the writers are simply trying to really push themselves.

As is typical of first seasons, the main character, Annie, doesn't have any real, serious consequences to deal with in the first season. She's also a newbie and it's clear that, while she's doing a good job, she's not really being given the tough jobs just yet. When she ends up with a tough job (sorry, no details--it's been too long since I watched season 1!) it's because she happened into it, not because she was assigned the difficult job.

Last season (which I think is season 2) Annie told her sister she worked for the CIA (which always makes the character who is being told this "big secret" distrust the operative--I'm never sure why, other than it's expected for the plot); she fell in love with another spy, which had serious consequences for her emotionally and led to her nearly leaving the CIA until she and boyfriend were shot; and then went after and killed the woman who killed Annie's lover, who also happened to be Annie's former boss. It was an eventful season.

This season's working up to being even darker and more consequence-plagued. Annie has to regain the respect and trust of her former boss, all while she's having a hard time toeing the line. It's fun watching Annie grow into a very powerful woman, watching her make mistakes and work through them, and poignant seeing her dealing with the drama of the almost parental relationship she has with Joan, her first boss. There's a lot going on, and a lot to learn about making consequences that feel real. So, to make myself feel better for what otherwise would simply be goofing off, here's a goal for my own writing: give my main character an believable emotional consequence for a mistake she makes that doesn't go away immediately, and in fact has some longer-term consequences relevant to the plot.

There, now I can feel good about my TV time!

Finishing threads

My life has a lot of dangling threads in it--little unresolved conflicts or projects. We all have them in our lives, cluttering things up. I'm sure you know the ones I'm talking about: the cross stitch you picked up from Mt. Rushmore 15 years ago and haven't even finished Washington; the painting that's almost ready to hang if you can just get the foreground right; the collection of pictures of your second (or third) child's first year that's sitting in a photo album, just waiting for you to label and stick the pictures in.

In our lives they're just clutter, and in our books they're just clutter. Except, of course, when it's not just clutter, when it's texture or a red herring meant to set the reader off on the wrong track for a little while. When done right they do add to a story, but when done wrong they detract and make the writing sound amateurish.

Why am I thinking about this? I just finished a book, "The Chocolatier's wife" by Cindy Lynn Speer. I liked the book, especially the voice. The world she's created isn't a completely standard western European-based world (though it is western European in flavor). The direction she took her world-building was one I quite enjoyed.

The problem for me with the book was in the plot. While there are no specifically unresolved plot threads, there are a lot of plot threads that don't go anywhere. There are spoilers ahead, so if you're going to read the book and that'll bother you, stop reading now.

To give one example (which, to be fair, is probably the most egregious in the book) Tasmin at one point plots to help William escape from his jail cell. It's a nice little side plot that gets resolved within pages by another woman confessing to the crime for which William has been jailed. There are no consequences for Tasmin or William since they don't actually do anything. There are no consequences at all for Tasmin for she doesn't even explain to William what she's planning. It's one of those plot points that feels like it should go somewhere, and when it doesn't it's somewhat disappointing. I was happy William was freed, and the manner of it is pretty much required by the remainder of the plot, but the promise made to me when Tasmin conspired to break the law to help her betrothed escape felt unfulfilled.

I'm guessing my books will have a lot of those in the beginning as well. In fact, I know my WIP has some dangling threads right now that I'm probably not even going to resolve. They don't add anything other than texture (maybe) and confusion for my readers (definitely). Fortunately, I have good critique partners who point out the places they feel like a promise is going unfulfilled and that helps me decide if I want to flesh out the plot thread or cut it entirely.