A long time ago, in a city not very far away, I wrote a short story that involved physics and puns -- even though I had taken (and passed) only one physics course during college.
At this point, it's been so many years that I can't remember what inspired me to write the story, "It's All Relative at the Space-Time Cafe." But I wrote it, worked on it, revised every line several times, and showed it to a friend, my geekiest friend, whom I thought may be the only one I knew who might get the jokes and the scientific references. He liked it (he said) but thought the references might be too obscure. So I filed the story away, not thinking that perhaps my friend didn't like it as much as I did because he didn't get the references himself.
I dug the story out from time to time, and it always made me laugh -- which is not always the case once I see an article in print; sometimes, I see too many places I should have improved the piece with different word, pacing, punchline, etc. or could have improved it by deleting a joke. But this story always pleased me.
Finally, I revised it one more time, added a new section, and submitted the story -- and it got accepted. By one of the great science fiction magazines, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction! The story is available only through the magazine but you can read my interview with F&SF here.
That closes out a pretty good year...though I'm at work on a number of different humor articles and short stories at any one time. Here's to an even better 2016!
At this point, it's been so many years that I can't remember what inspired me to write the story, "It's All Relative at the Space-Time Cafe." But I wrote it, worked on it, revised every line several times, and showed it to a friend, my geekiest friend, whom I thought may be the only one I knew who might get the jokes and the scientific references. He liked it (he said) but thought the references might be too obscure. So I filed the story away, not thinking that perhaps my friend didn't like it as much as I did because he didn't get the references himself.
I dug the story out from time to time, and it always made me laugh -- which is not always the case once I see an article in print; sometimes, I see too many places I should have improved the piece with different word, pacing, punchline, etc. or could have improved it by deleting a joke. But this story always pleased me.
Finally, I revised it one more time, added a new section, and submitted the story -- and it got accepted. By one of the great science fiction magazines, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction! The story is available only through the magazine but you can read my interview with F&SF here.
That closes out a pretty good year...though I'm at work on a number of different humor articles and short stories at any one time. Here's to an even better 2016!
