Introducing Brad Warner

I am a fan of Brad Warner, punk rocker and Buddhist practitioner. My favorite book of his (he has written several) is Sit Down and Shut Up. Here's his latest post at his website, HardCore Zen.

http://hardcorezen.info/staying-hungry/3019

 

The Manifesto of Speculative Posthumanism

Bruce Sterling notes that a real posthuman would find this very funny...

http://feeds.wired.com/c/35185/f/661427/s/36a5b6eb/sc/7/l/0L0Swired0N0Cbeyond0Ithe0Ibeyond0C20A140C0A20Cmanifesto0Especulative0Eposthumanism0C/story01.htm
“Over the last decade the possibility of innovations in areas such as artificial intelligence or biotechnology contributing to the emergence of a ‘posthuman’ life form has become a focal point of public debate and mainstream artistic concern. This multi-disciplinary discourse is premised on developments in the so-called ‘NBIC’ technologies – Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Information Technology and Cognitive Science. The transhumanist claim that human nature should be improved technologically is likewise predicated on the NBIC suite affording the necessary means for enhancement...
(continued at above link.)

There's a big argument going on in the news and the blogosphere about Amazon (indie publishing) vs. Hachette (legacy publishing). My only contribution is to note that this isn't David and Goliath. It's more like Goliath and Goliath. I took up fiction writing recently, but by the time I'm ready to publish they'll probably be working on a different lawsuit, so my overall plan is to get out of the way and let them fight it out. (I thought I could finish a novel in a summer...hah! I'm only on the third chapter and it's already July.)

The question I do consider, though, is whether to go with independent publishing (like the Amazon Kindle and Smashwords and so on) or the legacy publishers (Hachette and the other Big Five and their minions). I spent (and spend) a lot of time reading about writing, and one interesting book that helped with that decision is The Business of Science Fiction, by Mike Resnick and Barry Malzberg. These two guys are archetypal professionals in the field, with many dozens of novels, short stories and screenplays between them. If anyone knows how to get published with a legacy publisher, it's them. Excellent book, and after reading it through, I had an interesting reaction. 

No way do I want to do this. 

Go to conventions and butter people up, send out endless query letters and proposals, try and get an agent, watch while they auction it off, scrutinize contracts, adhere to publisher's rules and word counts, go on book tours, wince while the publisher sets the book price too high, get only about a third of the money it makes, and then have no say in when, where, or whether the ebook gets published.

When would I get any actual writing done?

Current status: leaning heavily toward indie publishing. Yes, I'll have to hire and pay my own editor, and no, I won't get an advance. OK on both counts.