Because of these several impediments, as well as other technical difficulties, you will find typos and occasional replication of text. In our humble opinion, typos show that the logs are of *live* chats, not canned interviews, and minimal editing of these logs has taken place.

Rick Shelley's Home Page

[Cybling] Folks...we have Rick Shelley here for the last interview of the evening.
[Cybling] Rick, welcome to the green room of this year's worldcon.
[Cybling] Rick, can you tell me how you're enjoying the convention so far?
[Rick_Shelley] I'm having a lot of fun, but going a little crazy. This is my first
[Rick_Shelley] w
[Rick_Shelley] WorldCon
[Cybling] Thank Goodness! Mine too!
[Cybling] LOL
[Cybling] I understand that. I've been in the sheltered environment of the Green Room, but it's still a little overwhelming.
[Cybling] How many SF fans are there here in one place at one time?
[Rick_Shelley] I think I saw that there are more than 5000 "warm bodies"
[Cybling] And all in less than 2 city blocks. This should be frightening Someone.
[Cybling] Rick. You're originally an Illinois native, from Kankakee, but you moved to Tennessee 19 years ago?
[Rick_Shelley] At least they know we're all in one place if they want to do something about us.
[Cybling] lol
[Rick_Shelley] Yes, Kankakee, famed for a line in Groucho Marx's "Lydia, the Tattooed Lady"
[Cybling] 8^D
[Rick_Shelley] I moved to Tennessee but had to come back for the Uno's pizza and Italian beef sandwiches
[Cybling] Yeah...those are two things they can try to transplant to the far ends of the world...
[Cybling] but they just are never the same.
[Rick_Shelley] There's an Uno's opening in my town this Thursday, but I don't expect it to be the same.
[Cybling] Rick...your bio says that you have been writing short stories and contributing toanthologies for the past 15 years.
[Cybling] What about this move to Tennessee turned you into a writer after 4 years....
[Cybling] and if I move there will it do it to me too?
[Rick_Shelley] Well, I wrote for a long time first. It was just after moving to Tennessee that I was in a position where I had to make a go of it or go back to honest work.
[Cybling] You list your work as Fantasy/SF...does that mean you write both genres or a mix of the two?
[Rick_Shelley] I do both genres when I can. My first 5 novels were fantasy. The past dozen have all been military sf.
[Cybling] Military SF. Now thats a great sub-genre. Tell me, what do your stories feature that put them in that class?
[Rick_Shelley] I should warn you that my business cards list my occupation as "Professional Liar."
[Rick_Shelley] Soldiers, blood, and that sort of thing.
[Cybling] lol, well yes. ARe you near future or far future....what I'm asking here is... do you use FTL.
[Rick_Shelley] I use a hyperspace device that doesn't require FTL. Sort of fudging around the edges.
[Cybling] Why the switch from fantasy to hard SF? Had the more formal SF genre always been one of your favorites?
[Rick_Shelley] It's been mostly a marketing necessity. I got into the military sf more or less by accident but it's done so well that I'm getting stuck there...not that I'm complaining, but I'd like to be able to do both.
[Cybling] Rick...what's the title of your most recent novel?
[Rick_Shelley] Lieutenant Colonel. Colonel comes out Halloween.
[Cybling] Excellent...this Halloween...who's the publisher?
[Rick_Shelley] Ace Books
[Cybling] Good. and you have several other books in the Pipeline right now.
[Rick_Shelley] Yes. Besides Colonel, the first book in my next series has been accepted, and the 2nd book is in the mail now.
[Cybling] Several authors have used the phrase, "Publishing Pipeline" and I know that a lot of the folks that will be reading this log are probably as unfamiliar with that concept as I am.
[Cybling] Where does the pipeline begin and I assume it ends on the shelves.
[Rick_Shelley] It means books, etc. that have sold to a publisher but haven't yet been published.
[Cybling] Okay...so placing it with your agent would be pre-pipeline then.
[Rick_Shelley] I guess so. Never thought about that though.
[Cybling] Rick...a lot of our 20 something authors bypassed the old route of publishing...
[Cybling] short stories in the major magazines first, and went directly to publishing their first novels.
[Cybling] How were you first published?
[Rick_Shelley] There has always been some of that, but I think the training you get from short fiction is important.
[Rick_Shelley] My first sales -- for six years -- were all short fiction, most of it to ANALOG.
[Cybling] WEll I guess that says that you have a very good grounding in Hard SF and what it takes to write that kind of story.
[Cybling] I've heard that even the slightest hint of fantasy isn't allowed.
[Rick_Shelley] I had a good teacher in Stan Schmidt. I count as one of his "discoveries."
[Rick_Shelley] Occasionally, very rarely, a bit of fantasy creeps into an ANALOG story, but not much and not often.
[Cybling] Rick, Using Robots and Machines to Improve Life was one of the panels you sat on this convention.
[Cybling] Do you believe that our society will become more mechanized as it progresses?
[Rick_Shelley] Perhaps not "mechanized" because the machines may not be mechanical but organic.
[Cybling] Interesting. Rick a lot of our authors started out their careers in the sciences, one way or another...
[Cybling] others have been educators, and some have decided they were going to be writers from the get go.
[Cybling] Did you pursue any other careers before you became a full time author?
[Rick_Shelley] I always wanted to be a writer, but came to actually make money at it fairly late. My formal training is in History. I taught that for a while, worked as an accountant, sold books and booze, and a number of other things along the way.
[Cybling] The History training would explain why you have chosen Military SF then....
[Cybling] you've studied what man can do to man, and has done and will do.
[Cybling] Do you use any of your studies of past warfare to plot you stories?
[Rick_Shelley] Of course I use my knowledge of history. Every writer has to bring what he knows to the keyboard. But as for me choosing military sf, it was more the other way around, through a chain of coincidences
[Cybling] The other way around? The Military SF chose you, so to speak, and then?...
[Rick_Shelley] Well, it started with a story I did, in which the military was there but not centralo, then I was asked to contribute a short story to an anthology, and then the books. And it's doing well enough (thankfully) that I'm having trouble getting publishers to think of me doing anything else.
[Cybling] Have you considered a pseudonym then?
[Rick_Shelley] I have and am considering it, but I have mixed feelings. I like to think I'm proud enough of all my work to want my own name on it.
[Cybling] I understand that wholely.
[Cybling] You were on the I Didn't Go To Clarion and Still Made It panel as well...you credit Stan Schmidt of Analog with teaching you your trade?
[Rick_Shelley] A lot of it. He helped me shape several stories into items he could use.
[Cybling] So he gave you good critical advice, and you took it.
[Rick_Shelley] Yes, and it's served me well. I think it's fair to say that without Stan's influence I wouldn't be where I am now.'
[Cybling] Do a lot of editors these days have that time though, or that interest in new authors?
[Rick_Shelley] When they see promise. They certainly can't take that kind of time with every writer, but ifyou show some ability and a story catches the eye of a good editor ... they're always looking for new talent.
[Cybling] Can you tell me what the most important thing was that he taught you?
[Rick_Shelley] That's a toughie.
[Rick_Shelley] I learned so much, but when it gets down to it, I guess it's that the editor and writer are not -- or should not be -- adversaries, but more team mates, both trying to put out the best possible story
[Cybling] So the author that takes criticism poorly is doing Himself a disservice.
[Rick_Shelley] Big time.
[Cybling] Thank you. I thought as much but it's good to hear it from someone who knows.
[Cybling] Rick...one last question before I undo the duct tape and let you run back to the convention.
[Cybling] There's a lot of 4 and 5 book trilogies going around to day...
[Cybling] and a few of us would like to know what the best number of books for a SERIES should be?
[Rick_Shelley] Since the sixth book in my latest series is coming out, maybe I should take the 5th on that.
[Cybling] lolololol
[Cybling] Rick...thank you so much for joining us this evening. Be sure to steal a baby eclaire when we sneak out of here tonight!
[Rick_Shelley] Thanks