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Kagan MacTane (he/him) (kagan@wandering.shop)'s status on Wednesday, 14-Feb-2024 06:44:58 JST Kagan MacTane (he/him)
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#WritersCoffeeClub (Sep) 7: Share an image of a favourite book cover design. Not your own.
The Integral Trees, by Larry Niven. Part of what I like about this cover for is that Niven says he was once in a bookstore and overheard someone looking at the cover and saying, "Oh, a fantasy novel." And he thought, Nope! Hard SF... just in a *very strange* place. (Check out the notes on the setting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Integral_Trees. It's a very strange place, indeed!)
In conversation about a year ago from wandering.shop permalink
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1. Wraparound cover for The Integral Trees, by Larry Niven. The right side of the image, which would be the front cover on the actual book, shows a slender, blond humanoid person wearing green pants and vest, floating gently in mid-air. Their arms are stretched out and their hands casually draped over a spear that rests on their shoulders. Their feet are bare; one is dangling down near the bottom edge of the image, while the other is using its toes to grasp a cable that connects to the end of the spear. There's what looks like a crossbow behind the person's head. They overall look sort of like an elf, but their clothing has lots of bulky pockets, so their vest looks like tactical gear and their pants are reminiscent of army BDUs. Behind them is a lot of greenery, but it's all puffy and there's no trunk or branches visible. There's some sky, but it's down in the bottom left corner, not at the top. On the left side (back cover), that sky continues and there are lots of puffy clouds, but no ground anywhere. A random-looking plant structure from the front side turns out to be a trunk-like or wooden shaft that appears to be many miles long, and possibly monumental in scale. It has a blocky spacecraft docking at a rectangular port or notch carved into the wood. Text on the front and spine says "The Integral Trees" and "Larry Niven"; there's no back cover blurb on this image. There's a Del Rey publisher's logo at the bottom of the spine.
  https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/111/161/386/086/957/702/original/7e040dc30b82f62d.jpg
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  The Integral Trees
  
  The Integral Trees is a 1984 science fiction novel by American writer Larry Niven (first published as a serial in Analog in 1983). Like much of Niven's work, the story is heavily influenced by the setting: a gas torus, a ring of air around a neutron star. A sequel, The Smoke Ring, was published in 1987. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1984, and the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1985. Setting The story occurs around the fictional neutron star Levoy's Star (abbreviated "Voy"). The gas giant Goldblatt's World (abbreviated "Gold") orbits this star just outside its Roche limit and therefore its gravity is insufficient to keep its atmosphere, which is pulled loose into an independent orbit around Voy and forms a ring that is known as a gas torus. The gas torus is huge—one million kilometers thick—but most of it is too thin to be habitable. The central part of the Gas Torus, where the air is thicker, is known as the Smoke Ring. The Smoke Ring supports a wide variety of life. No "ground" exists in the Smoke Ring; it consists entirely of sky. Furthermore, the Smoke Ring is in orbit...
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  Kagan MacTane (he/him) (kagan@wandering.shop)'s status on Wednesday, 14-Feb-2024 06:44:59 JST Kagan MacTane (he/him)
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  #WritersCoffeeClub (Sep) 6: Do you hide Easter eggs in your work? Give some examples?
  There will definitely be lots of details that San Franciscans will recognize. But if I'm hiding them for people to find, I'm not going to spill the beans here!
  
  In conversation about a year ago permalink
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  Kagan MacTane (he/him) (kagan@wandering.shop)'s status on Wednesday, 14-Feb-2024 06:45:00 JST Kagan MacTane (he/him)
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  #WritersCoffeeClub (Sep) 4: What's your beverage and snack of choice when writing?
  Whiskey-based, spirit-forward cocktails like Manhattans or Vieux Carrés, or straight Irish whiskey.
  
  In conversation about a year ago permalink
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  Kagan MacTane (he/him) (kagan@wandering.shop)'s status on Wednesday, 14-Feb-2024 06:45:00 JST Kagan MacTane (he/him)
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  #WritersCoffeeClub (Sep) 5: Do you have an intended audience for your writing?
  I guess vaguely urban fantasy fans? People who love cities in general, and San Francisco in particular.
  
  In conversation about a year ago permalink
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  Kagan MacTane (he/him) (kagan@wandering.shop)'s status on Wednesday, 14-Feb-2024 06:45:01 JST Kagan MacTane (he/him)
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  #WritersCoffeeClub (Sep) 2: On a scale of pantser to plotter, what are you? Are you flexible?
  Still finding out. For my initial WIP, I'm developing my characters' backgrounds with as much detail as I can, and doing likewise for the setting, society, and magic system. Then I'm plotting the heck out of the first 5 chapters or so... and after that? I have fairly little idea of where it's going to go. I want a firm foundation to jump off of.
  So, plotting *so that I can pants it*?
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  Kagan MacTane (he/him) (kagan@wandering.shop)'s status on Wednesday, 14-Feb-2024 06:45:02 JST Kagan MacTane (he/him)
  
  #WritersCoffeeClub (Sep) 1: Intro: Shameless Self Promotion. Tell us about yourself, your published work or WIP.
  I'm Kagan, a web developer from San Francisco living in Brooklyn, working on my first novel. Totally unpublished author, but going for it anyway.
  My WIP is an #UrbanFantasy set in #SanFrancisco, about people who can hear the voice of the City, and do magic based on that.
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