October 16, 2015

It Was Going to Be a Short Blog Today

I blogged Monday (Columbus Day) because the local schools were open. They are closed today – the school calendar doesn't specify why, but I presume it's Indigenous People Day. (We're having a one-day camp at MDTTC for the kids out of school. We have so many coaches at MDTTC that I'm not needed today, so I'm working at home on some USATT league stuff.) So I was planning to be off too! (Also, I've been on the go every day for a long, long time - "I need a vacation.")

However, yesterday was a banner day for me, though not for table tennis reasons. (Though there's a big table tennis angle.) Life for me just got more complicated – for the better. Here's what happened….and I ended up doing a normal blog.

Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions - SOLD!!! – and Table Tennis!

I sold my science fiction novel to World Weaver Press. It covers the election for president of Earth in the year 2100, where the world has adopted the American two-party electoral system. It's a satirical drama featuring a moderate third-party challenge to the two main candidates, the conservative president and the liberal challenger, as they campaign all over the world for electoral votes and the presidency. I've been describing it as "West Wing in the 22nd Century." The novel is 123,000 words long, which is 622 pages in double-spaced 12-point Courier New. It'll likely be published in a 9"x6" format, about 400 pages.

There is a huge table tennis angle – one of the four main characters is a table tennis champion, who always carries a ping-pong ball around, which he nervously tosses about and smacks people with. Chapter four takes place at the U.S. College Championships (all the players are full-time professionals) and is one long table tennis scene as our champion plays table tennis while simultaneously listening in on breaking political news. There's also an extensive scene with a table tennis exhibition in China – it does not end well for our heroes. (They also go shopping for table tennis supplies in China.) The novel also has an alien ambassador, who joins in the campaign and learns table tennis while traveling the world. (His ancestors snatched flying insects out of the air, so he has great reflexes and hand-eye coordination, so he learns fast – to the chagrin of our human table tennis champion!) I blogged about the various table tennis scenes in the novel on June 13, 2014. I also blogged on May 17, 2012 about how table tennis has changed in the year 2100. (No major spoilers in the two blogs.) The novel has been making the rounds for several years – publishers take a long time to get back to you.

My previous novel, the humorous fantasy Sorcerers in Space, was originally published by a rather small publisher. (I have since bought the rights back and am now self-publishing it. The novel also has a table tennis angle, as the main star, 13-year-old Neil [Armstrong] has to give up his ping-pong dreams to save the world.) World Weaver Press is a much nicer one, a couple of steps up.

Because it's a political novel, we want it out at the start of the US Presidential election, so they are going to make sure it comes out in January, before the Iowa Caucuses on Feb. 1. I plan to send advance copies to lots of people in both the SF and political worlds, in the hopes of getting some good reviews and publicity.

I'm going to have to spend some time going over proofs and galleys and other pre-publication work. After it's published I'll be doing a lot of publicity work, including going to science fiction conventions and perhaps some TV. I'll do my best to make sure this doesn't interfere with my major table tennis work.

This is sort of the culmination of a vow I made many years ago to write at least three novels – a political satire, a humorous fantasy, and a table tennis fantasy – and see which did best. All three are now written and either published or soon to be published. Here's the result:

I've been planning on taking a week off from Nov. 9-13 at a local writers retreat to work on a sequel to The Spirit of Pong. It looks like I'll instead be working on the sequel to Campaign 2100! I've longed planned it as a trilogy – I have rough outlines for the next two:

  • Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions
  • Campaign 2110: Scorpions in Space
  • Campaign 2120: Galactic Scorpions

But Campaign 2100 wasn't my only sale yesterday…

The Many Heads of Mr. Krup

When I got to the club yesterday to coach, I checked email on my new smart phone – and there it was, another acceptance letter! This was from Space and Time Magazine for the science fiction story titled here. (Sorry, no table tennis this time.) They are a somewhat major SF magazine. This is my fourth short story sale to them, and 72nd science fiction or fantasy short story sale. (Here's my science fiction & fantasy page, which I probably need to modernize. I still haven't updated it with the two sales from yesterday.) I've been a cover story for Space and Time twice, Spring 2011 and Spring 2015.

My Reaction After Learning I'd Sold My SF Novel

Here's the video! (With apologies to Adam Bobrow.)

World Men's Cup

It starts today, in Halmstad, Sweden, Fri-Sun, Oct. 16-18. Here's the ITTF home page for the event where you can get results, articles, pictures, and video. Preliminary draws are up; USA's Jimmy Butler will be up against world #25 Panagiotis Gionis (GRE) at 1PM Swedish time (that's 7AM Eastern Time). (Alas, he lost 4-0. Next he's up against Simon Gauzy of France, world #28.) Here is the player's list:

  1. MA Long (CHN)
  2. FAN Zhendong (CHN)
  3. OVTCHAROV Dimitrij (GER)
  4. MIZUTANI Jun (JPN)
  5. FREITAS Marcos (POR)
  6. CHUANG Chih-Yuan (TPE)
  7. NIWA Koki (JPN)
  8. TANG Peng (HKG)
  9. GAO Ning (SIN)
  10. APOLONIA Tiago (POR)
  11. GIONIS Panagiotis (GRE)
  12. GARDOS Robert (AUT)
  13. GAUZY Simon (FRA)
  14. ASSAR Omar (EGY)
  15. ACHANTA Sharath Kamal (IND)
  16. KARLSSON Kristian (SWE)
  17. TSUBOI Gustavo (BRA)
  18. KALLBERG Anton (SWE)
  19. HENZELL William (AUS)
  20. BUTLER Jimmy (USA)

Chinese Team Hits with Local Swedish Kids

Here's video of Ma Long (8 sec) and Fan Zhendong (11 sec) hitting with the locals.

Greatness is an Attitude

Here's the new podcast (42:48) from Expert Table Tennis, featuring Coach Marc Burman. Topics include the following:

  • Why Marc started Westcroft TTC at the age of 16.
  • How he managed to quickly grow the club both in numbers and level.
  • What he remembers of me as a nine and ten-year-old.
  • Marc’s philosophy when it comes to introducing players to table tennis.
  • Who Marc believes are the three greatest coaches of all time.
  • The importance of personality and attitude in determining success.
  • What Marc learnt from Carl Prean and Jean-Michel Saive.
  • Why it is so hard to play as well in matches as you do in training.

Ask the Coach Show

Episode #173 (21:40) – Kenta's Forehand Sidespin Block (and other segments).

Pong Road

Here's the page about an upcoming table tennis documentary where Rocky Wang travels the country. "Pong Road is an episodic documentary showing the life of a professional American table tennis player and the ping pong sub-culture across the country."

The Newest Ping Pong Robot is a Giant

Here's the video (62 sec) – these table tennis robots can really play!

International Table Tennis

Here's my periodic note (usually every Friday) that you can great international coverage at TableTennista (which especially covers the elite players well) and at the ITTF home page (which does great regional coverage). Butterfly also has a great news page.

America's Funniest Videos Looks at Table Tennis

Here's the video!

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