Two Items of Good News

The Chicago area got hit by a severe thunderstorm last night, possibly including one or more weak tornadoes. At least as per the morning TV news, nobody was killed or seriously injured and property damage appears light. In my neighborhood, the storm produced a goodly amount of wind, rain and lightning, which caused the lights to flicker, but the biggest damage I saw were a few small branches (finger-thick at best) blown down. So, riding out the storm is good news item #1.

On the writing front, one of the agents on my query list requested a partial of my novel Space Rescue! Even though, per the agent's web site, they are at Worldcon in Denver, I will get the package in the mail today. Publishing moves slowly enough without adding delays. So, even though another agent said "thanks but no thanks," this is good news item #2.

A Marker for Discussion

I don't usually post twice in one day, especially on Rotary Tuesdays, but I wanted to put a marker in the ground for discussion. The writer John Scalzi is running one of his Big Ideas posts. The "Big Idea" series is for authors to discuss the idea at the foundation of their books, and the current author is Jason Pinter. Jason's big idea is Elizabeth Smart.

Ms. Smart was kidnapped by a pair of nuts with religious delusions and held for about nine months. What was surprising about the case was that it appeared like Smart could have easily escaped by simply walking away. In fact, when the police picked Smart up, the girl argued that she wasn't the person they were looking for.

There have been other such cases over the years. My discussion point is this: there is some bug / feature / thing in the human mind that allows people to stay / put up with really bad situations. Not just kidnappings - people stay in abusive relationships, for example. It's a difficult topic to discuss, but as a writer, I find it interesting.