A Writing Resource Gifts a Writer
Several years ago, when on his AOL Community forum, Michael Francis Flynn m_francis asked his ever-bickering faithful fans if they would care to assist him in a story he was writing.
Now Himself was more than capable of devising a small section of this tale which reflected the paranoid, verging on lunatic, meanderings of a fictional discussion board when he realized had such a discussion board at hand.
So Himself generously offered us the privilege of engaging in bombastic, ignorant commentary based on the barest description of purposely inexplicable events -- playing to the forum members' strength -- that framed the story, with the understanding that he would cull as needed to serve the story's intent and those involved eagerly complied knowing that we were doing so with complete surrender of all except bragging rights.
The contributions were too minor to be considered the work of collaborators, but the forum members were happy to be deemed a "writing resource" for Himself. After all, it's SF and people have been known to drop cash in auctions for the mere appearance of one's name.
Well, the story -- "Dawn, and the Sunset, and the Colours of the Earth" -- was nominated for a Hugo and selected by David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer for their Best of the Year anthology.
The peripheral ecstasy compared to that of the guys who sold Frank Lloyd Wright the cement for his house "Falling Water".
One can find the beginning of the story here:
http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0612/dawnandsunset.shtml
Then the group decided to show its appreciation to Flynn and devised a plan.
They originally bought several issues of IASFM in which the story appeared and had one of the group arranged for Flynn to autograph them, then each signed one's own entry in the bulletin board section of the story. The plan expanded when the Best of the Year compendium appeared. An autograph by Hartwell and Cramer was accomplished and the copy of that volume, along with the multiple copies of the relevant IASFM issue traveled around the country by being signed by Himself's Resource Team.
When the secret mission was completed, one member was chosen [there's a broken tooth, a broken hip, and funeral arrangements to this story but we'll ignore circumstantial details] by consent to present the signed copies to Himself while he was attending Philcon as a Guest Participant on the weekend of 9-11 November.
Seated [from l to r]: Michael F. Flynn; JJ Brannon imitating seafood; noted Edgar Rice Burroughs scholar Richard B. Stout; film director Christopher Stout
Happy Birthday, MF^2, from your frenetic fans!
JJB
Now Himself was more than capable of devising a small section of this tale which reflected the paranoid, verging on lunatic, meanderings of a fictional discussion board when he realized had such a discussion board at hand.
So Himself generously offered us the privilege of engaging in bombastic, ignorant commentary based on the barest description of purposely inexplicable events -- playing to the forum members' strength -- that framed the story, with the understanding that he would cull as needed to serve the story's intent and those involved eagerly complied knowing that we were doing so with complete surrender of all except bragging rights.
The contributions were too minor to be considered the work of collaborators, but the forum members were happy to be deemed a "writing resource" for Himself. After all, it's SF and people have been known to drop cash in auctions for the mere appearance of one's name.
Well, the story -- "Dawn, and the Sunset, and the Colours of the Earth" -- was nominated for a Hugo and selected by David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer for their Best of the Year anthology.
The peripheral ecstasy compared to that of the guys who sold Frank Lloyd Wright the cement for his house "Falling Water".
One can find the beginning of the story here:
http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0612/dawnandsunset.shtml
Then the group decided to show its appreciation to Flynn and devised a plan.
They originally bought several issues of IASFM in which the story appeared and had one of the group arranged for Flynn to autograph them, then each signed one's own entry in the bulletin board section of the story. The plan expanded when the Best of the Year compendium appeared. An autograph by Hartwell and Cramer was accomplished and the copy of that volume, along with the multiple copies of the relevant IASFM issue traveled around the country by being signed by Himself's Resource Team.
When the secret mission was completed, one member was chosen [there's a broken tooth, a broken hip, and funeral arrangements to this story but we'll ignore circumstantial details] by consent to present the signed copies to Himself while he was attending Philcon as a Guest Participant on the weekend of 9-11 November.
Seated [from l to r]: Michael F. Flynn; JJ Brannon imitating seafood; noted Edgar Rice Burroughs scholar Richard B. Stout; film director Christopher Stout
Happy Birthday, MF^2, from your frenetic fans!
JJB