rolanni: (Caution: Writing Ahead)

Steve explains the origins of Tinsori Light:

many years ago -- say in the mid 1990s -- we were established enough in Maine (and the publishing world) to begin taking short vacations "at the ocean" ... which for us meant Old Orchard Beach, since it was both the closest in time and the closest to what we expected of a beach, then -- a sort of honky tonk boardwalky feeling, even if there was no real boardwalk.

In a kind of foreshadowing, and as a bow to Doc Smith, we'd chosen a place called "The Skylark Inn" for this adventure....

For some reason we'd decided to travel with a small AM-FM-Weather radio that could (if necessary) be powered with hand-crank. The radio had been used once or twice during snow-events at home in Kennebec County, but it did have batteries and we took it with as part of the general "my ghod, we're really getting out of town!" kind of attitude, and not knowing if the room would have a radio.

What we hadn't realized was that once we were at the ocean that radio could provide round-the-clock entertainment. There was a local OK kind of rock station and too many mock-country stations, but what we listened to nearly constantly that trip, and for many thereafter, was -- the weather radio. Some days we were getting a very weak signal from the top of Mt. Washington, which we hadn't realized was basically line of sight to OOB. Most days at the ocean we'd we'd turn the radio on as soon as we rose, and listen to the rotating litany of coastal weather news. We were amused to hear regular warnings about how dangerous the cold water could be, and sometimes paid attention to the wave-height news which could, after all, predict great waves at the beach itself.

Eventually that listening told us there was a place whose signal was often missing, a phrase delivered mechanically, and as if with a slight sense of irony, delivered dryly. The phrase became a catch phrase for us, an in joke for many uses -- "Matinicus Rock is not reporting."

Some of the reporting spots were lighthouses, some were ocean buoys, but the one that stuck with us most was Matinicus Rock.

Through this joke and considering the inevitable "ocean of stars" thing ... we ended up talking of places that came and went, places that reported to the rest of the universe at whim rather than necessity ... places that darn well refused to report! darnit! and eventually came to name some place Runig's Rock, and another place "Tinsori Light."

The minds of writers are strange. Where do we get our ideas, you ask? We get ours from Matinicus Rock.

Alas, the old weather radio gave up the ghost when the cheap batteries it came with gave up the ghost by splitting and leaking into the interior. We achieved another, nicer radio soon after, one without a crank, and today -- to get into the mood for a trip to the ocean -- I set it out on the refrigerator top (in order to get the best signal) and listened to the Dresden station churning out reports. Sharon laughed when we got to the "beware of cold water" warnings and then we both were sure we heard that message echoing through deep space: "Matinicus Rock is not reporting."

Where do we get our ideas, you ask? We get ours from Matinicus Rock.

More on Mantinicus Rock

Abbie Burgess, Light Keeper

 

rolanni: (Mouse and Dragon)

NOTEThis is not a call to seek out the review cited below and castigate the reviewer, who is, after all, entitled to her opinion.  Indeed, I'm grateful to her for presenting a viewpoint that would have never occurred to me, and for presenting me with an opportunity to explain the origin of an important part of the Liaden Universe®

This is a riff off of a reader review of Carousel Sun.  I do read reviews, and sometimes I riff off of them.  Consider yourselves warned.  This particular review took exception to the appearance of the word "leathers" in Carousel Sun, when, if I understand the argument correctly, "leathers" had already been co-opted by the Liaden Universe® and ought never appear in any other work written by me or by Steve.

Even, apparently, when it is the correct word (i.e. the protective clothing worn by motorcyclists are referred to as "motorcycle leathers," or "leathers."  Here's an example of cycling leathers.) used in the correct world, by the correct people.

Which is, IMHO, a. . .really interesting viewpoint.*

But!  It got me to thinking about the origin of "space leathers" in the Liaden Universe®.

Steve and I grew up in the 1960s, when the Great Public Mind was in the process of mythologizing World War II.  That meant that we saw a lot of war shows on television, including:  Combat!, McHale's Navy, Twelve O'Clock High, The Rat Patrol, Hogan's Heroes. . .among others, and a whole stack of movies:  The Longest Day, Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Bridge on the River Kwai, von Ryan's Express, &c, &c

My dad used to make it a point to take me to see war movies, as a father-daughter bonding thing.  Most, if not all, of these movies, featured pilots.  And the pilots were. . .heroic. They wore their leather jackets with pride and with attitude.  The other characters might have reservations, but even those who did honored the pilots for their courage, derring-do, and amazing ability to pull things out of hats.

When it came time to write the Liaden Universe®, and fill in Clan Korval's pilots-by-intention lineage, with a birthright of attitude, courage, and over-the-topness -- we dressed them as they deserved -- in space leather:  protective gear that was instantly recognizable, even by those who were not pilots (or Scouts), which not only protected them, but illuminated and increased their mystique.

-------------------------------

*Leather has, of course, been used throughout history as protective clothing; after all, it's tough.  Conquistadors wore leather; American Indians wore leather; Vikings wore leather.  I speak here only of the leathers that influenced us.

rolanni: (the kids)

I was born in 1952.  That's rather a long time ago.  About sixty years, in fact.  (I heard that, you in the back, and you are correct --  I am older than dirt.)

Now, back in my day, we had this thing called television.  Oh, yeah, I know you have television now, but not like we had television.  My family, based in Baltimore, had programming on three channels to choose from -- 2, 11, and 13.  Sometimes, in the evening, you could get a snowy picture out of channels 4 and 5, broadcast from DC.

As a Little, my television viewing consisted of The Early Riser, Captain Kangaroo, various afternoon game shows that had moved into the new medium from radio -- As the World Turns and Guiding Light, if I was staying with my grandmother -- The Ed Sullivan Show, Monday-Wednesday-Saturday-Whatever night at the movies; and the other show that aired at four o'clock on weekdays, and ran movies staring Joe E. Brown, W.C. Fields, Abbot and Costello, The Three Stooges; The Keystone Cops; Charlie Chaplin; The Bowery Boys, Our Gang; Tarzan and Bomba...

I was a faithful viewer of Cap'n Tug, which came over Channel Five at my dinner time.  I'd sit on the floor in front of the TV with the dog, sharing my slice of yellow American cheese with mustard between two pieces of white bread sandwich with the dog (one bite for me; one bite for her. What?  She liked mustard.), watching cartoons, and listening to the Cap'n as he moved his tug back and forth across Baltimore Harbor in pursuit of work.

Course, there was Disneyland, and the Mouseketeers; Queen for a Day.  In the early evening, I watched Sergeant Bilko, You Bet Your Life.  Saturday was cartoons; Roy Rogers, Sky King, My Friend Flicka, The Lone Ranger, Cisco Kid...

Then there were the cop and G-man shows:  The Naked City, The FBI, Dragnet. . .

And then, in 1964, eleven days after my 12th birthday -- there came The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

I had, by this point, absorbed quite a lot of storytelling through my eyeballs; and I was a tough critic.  But I had never seen anything like this.  The chemistry between the characters, the cool dialogue, the stakes,  the explosions!, the daring escapades, the sly humor. I  was in love, and I wanted More of This, Please.

In short order, I got. . .not exactly More of This, but More Like This:  The Avengers, with that marvelous tension between Peel and Steed; I Spy; The Wild, Wild West with the buddy-thing going between Jim and Artie (and y'know, the explosions and the cool dialogue and the adventure!); Honey West; Mission Impossible; Get Smart; Johnny Quest. . .

Television was spy-mad, and though my parents (unfairly!) ruled that I was too young to stay up for Secret Agent, and MUCH too young to view James Bond flicks, I had enough to keep my brain buzzing.  Also, my mother, who wouldn't think of allowing my tender eyes to rest upon a  Bond Girl, had no problem with my reading every Ian Fleming book in BCPL's collection.

It was about this time that I began making up stories in my head, to keep myself occupied during the long, dull hours at school.  And it's not really a surprise, is it, that the very first character I met inside my head was a. . .spy?  Well, but!  An interstellar spy, because that was exciting, and new (since, yanno, I hadn't heard of the Lensmen, yet).  Because a spy needs somebody to watch his back, I figured he should have a partner, somebody who could shoot and take care of both of them, should the need arise -- not another spy, though, someone who hadn't told lies so long he'd forgotten what truth looked like -- a soldier!  Yes.  And the soldier should be a girl, because why should boys have all the explosions, anyway?

Twenty years after The Man from U.N.C.L.E lit up the black-and-white screen in my parent's living room, having in the between-time told myself countless stories about Val Con and Miri and The Green People -- On October 31, 1984, Steve and I packed up a manuscript detailing the adventures of Miri and Val Con and the Clutch Turtles -- Agent of Change, by Lee Miller -- and mailed it to Ace Books.

It was, of course, rejected; DAW rejected it, too.

In December, 1985, Del Rey Books mailed us a contract, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Illya Kuryakin and Napolean Solo have a lot to answer for, yeah.  But I like to think their grand-stories have done them proud.

May 2025

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