{"id":36122,"date":"2020-03-19T09:21:25","date_gmt":"2020-03-19T13:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/?p=36122"},"modified":"2022-01-08T12:13:45","modified_gmt":"2022-01-08T17:13:45","slug":"ann-vandermeer-five-things-i-learned-editing-avatars-inc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/2020\/03\/19\/ann-vandermeer-five-things-i-learned-editing-avatars-inc\/","title":{"rendered":"Ann VanderMeer: Five Things I Learned Editing Avatars, Inc."},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Mars\u00a02080.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

While on a mission to Mars in the year 2080, a young astronaut\u00a0encounters\u00a0a decommissioned robotic Avatar unit, partially buried in the Martian dust. She pops open the cranial casing to find its central processing chip, still intact. She holds the chip up to her visual display unit to reveal its contents. Within moments, she is flooded with what-seem-to-be\u00a0\u201cmemories\u201d from the life of the avatar. This is Avatar Inc\u2019s 24th successful mission, as part of an overall campaign to physically retrieve, preserve and archive the memory cards from their most valuable robotic avatar units. They searched the world, and deep into the solar system, to acquire the chips that contain avatar memories spanning the 21st century. These are those memories.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Stories can heal and also bring us closer together, even when we\u2019re miles apart<\/h2>\n

Even as we are faced with what seem to be insurmountable odds, the human spirit still rises to the occasion. Keep in mind that the avatars are controlled by humans. And they make mistakes but also decisions that help save lives even to their own detriment. I see this in Ken Liu\u2019s \u201cUma<\/a>,\u201d when the person behind the maintenance avatar decides to go against protocol and save a family. I see it again in \u201cOannes, From the Flood<\/a>\u201d by Adrian Tchaikovsky, when people on an archaeological dig are faced with that same dilemma. What this tells me is that even in our most dire circumstances, our inclination is to do what we can to help others, no matter where they are or where they come from. Beyond the excitement of the gadgets, technology and devices, it is the human element that brings us all together.<\/p>\n

This anthology is launching in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic and each hour the news seems to be getting worse and worse. Some may think this is the wrong time to be reading stories. But I disagree. I see many people online posting and engaging with the stories. What better way to take a break and still connect with others? These connections make me hopeful for what can be.<\/p>\n

Writers may veer from the original prompt but that\u2019s ok<\/h2>\n

Establishing a prompt that is provided to each contributing writer is an important way to design a cohesive theme and an enjoyable experience for the readers, but you also don\u2019t want to creatively hamper the writers or have the prompt be so limiting that you start to see repetition across the stories. For Avatars Inc<\/a>, we noticed that writers slightly deviated from the original prompt, which forced us to take a hard look at the overall narrative of the campaign. We ended up adjusting the prompt in response to the authors\u2019 interpretations, and we are thrilled with the result.<\/p>\n

I know that sometimes giving more freedom to a writer can be a dangerous thing (insert smiley face here) but in this case, it was a marvelous idea that generated extraordinary fiction.<\/p>\n

Science Fiction stories never cease to amaze me<\/h2>\n

I\u2019ve spent the last few years heavily immersed in fantasy stories after editing THE BIG BOOK OF SCIENCE FICTION and THE TIME TRAVELER\u2019S ALMANAC.\u00a0 Fantasy was a nice break for me. As I worked on Avatars Inc, I was reminded of why I love science fiction so very much. I feel challenged and comforted at the same time. How can that be? The stories in this anthology forced me to take a different look at the world as it is today, but also to feel hopeful that humanity will rise to the occasion to deal with complicated issues. Are all the futures generated in science fiction stories hopeful? Of course not. Right now, we\u2019re inundated with dystopian fiction worldwide. But as long as we can reach for the stars, and writers keep sharing their vision of what could be, I can take comfort in that.<\/p>\n

The relationship between Art and Science is getting stronger<\/h2>\n

I\u2019ve always known there was a relationship between art and science. I\u2019ve seen it while working on various projects in how writers approach their work, riffing off of current events and yet extrapolating into the future. And I am also seeing so many science experts reaching across the divide to include writers in storytelling, to help get messages across to the larger public. Just as many universities are having multidisciplinary conferences that bring scientists and artists together, organizations like XPRIZE<\/a> also recognize this important relationship.<\/p>\n

The Use of Avatars can be much greater and more creative than I ever thought possible<\/h2>\n

I was surprised by all the different ways avatars were being used in the stories. I knew there would be space stories, of course. But I never thought of crime scene cleanup, as an example, and it makes perfect sense, doesn\u2019t it? Nino Cipri came up with that idea in their story \u201cAt the End of a Most Perfect Day<\/a>.\u201d I also was intrigued with Johanna Sinisalo\u2019s story \u201cA Bird Does Not Sing Because It Has an Answer<\/a>.\u201d We think in terms of using avatars to go where it would be dangerous for humans. However, in this story the avatar is adopted because humans are dangerous to the natural world! And in \u201cLa Mer Donne<\/a>\u201d by Sarah Pinsker, the avatar is operated for weather reporting in the middle of a storm. Living in Florida, I am very used to seeing reporters trying to stay put on solid ground while a storm whips around them. I expect that, just as I was surprised to read about novel avatar use-cases in the stories, that I will also be surprised to see what teams are developing as part of the real-life ANA Avatar XPRIZE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Over a 30-year career, Ann VanderMeer has won\u00a0numerous awards for her editing work, including the\u00a0Hugo Award and World Fantasy Award. Whether as\u00a0editor-in-chief for\u00a0Weird Tales\u00a0for five years or in her\u00a0current role as an acquiring editor for\u00a0Tor.com<\/a>, Ann\u00a0has built her reputation on acquiring fiction from\u00a0diverse and interesting new talents. As co-founder of\u00a0Cheeky Frawg Books, she has helped develop a\u00a0wide-ranging line of mostly translated fiction.\u00a0Featuring a who\u2019s who of world literature, Ann\u2019s\u00a0anthologies include the critically acclaimed\u00a0Best\u00a0American Fantasy\u00a0series,\u00a0The Weird,\u00a0The Time\u00a0Traveler\u2019s Almanac,\u00a0Sisters of the Revolution, The Big Book of Science Fiction, The Big Book of Classic Fantasy, and the\u00a0forthcoming\u00a0Big Book of Modern Fantasy (Vintage).<\/p>\n

Avatars, Inc.<\/strong>: Digital anthology (free)<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mars\u00a02080.\u00a0 While on a mission to Mars in the year 2080, a young astronaut\u00a0encounters\u00a0a decommissioned robotic Avatar unit, partially buried in the Martian dust. She pops open the cranial casing to find its central processing chip, still intact. She holds the chip up to her visual display unit to reveal its contents. Within moments, she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-36122","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-theramble","8":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pv7MR-9oC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36122"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36126,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36122\/revisions\/36126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}