Karen Sandler

Karen’s Blog

  • Website Adventures

    I recently launched a brand-new version of my site, www.karensandler.net. As an author who’s undergone a genre change from adult romance to young adult fiction, I needed a new look for my site that would better represent who I now am as an author. Since my first YA, Tankborn, is dystopian science fiction, I wanted some really cool SF/fantasy art for my site.

    I have little artistic talent myself (hey, I’m a writer, I use 1000 words, not a picture), so I knew I wasn’t going to be the one to draw the art for my site. Not entirely sure what I wanted, I perused several stock art sites. But I couldn’t find anything that looked right. I next checked out the websites of other YA authors, to see what I liked and didn’t like. Scott Westerfeld‘s site, for instance, is very cool and along the lines of what I was looking for. I tried to figure out his artist’s name, but couldn’t find it.

    So I turned to Google, using search terms such as “fantasy art” and “science fiction art” in hopes of stumbling across an artist I liked. Not much luck there. I found tons of artwork, much of it quite nice, but it either didn’t match that amorphous image in my head, or if I did fall in love with their art, they were big, big names, and there was no way they would be willing to do my little old website.

    I put out calls on a couple of my writer lists for a fantasy/SF artist and finally hit paydirt. An author e-mailed me with the name and website of a new artist, Matthew Leese. I checked out the portfolio Matt had posted on his site and discovered that his style matched beautifully with my still somewhat cloudy vision.

    After some back and forth, Matt and I signed a contract. I pointed out the sites I liked as examples. I told him what I was pretty certain of: that I wanted a cool masthead across the top, reminiscent of Scott Westerfeld’s (but different :-)), I wanted a DNA strand in which the links would be incorporated, and I wanted to use the GEN tattoo design on the page. (GEN=Genetically Engineered Non-human).

    He began by drawing me some rough sketches that included possible fonts:

    Much back and forth ensued during which we considered the font suggestions. I voiced my extreme dislike of mixed-case fonts (for example in the first font, the “n” is lower-case when all the other letters are upper-case). Matt said if I found a font I otherwise liked, he’d fix the mixed-case problem.

    There was also much discussion about what the GEN tattoos should look like. There was a parallel discussion with Stacy Whitman, my editor at Lee and Low,  since the tattoo would also be featured on Tankborn‘s cover. There was no way to make the website and cover versions identical since Matt didn’t have the cover to refer to. But I wanted a similar design. Stacy and I settled on henna-type designs and I relayed that to Matt. He sent his next rough sketch:

    Here is where the fogginess of my vision caused a wee bit of trouble. You’ll notice the DNA devolves into a sort of creature at the bottom of the page. That’s because I had this cockamamie notion that I would try to incorporate elements from another book series I’m working on, one that isn’t finished, let alone published. Bad idea. But Matt dutifully did what I’d asked. It took me several iterations before I finally pulled the plug on the hybrid site concept.

    After zeroing in on the desired font and font color, Matt sent me his next sketches, this time in color:

    Now we were getting closer to the final design and I was starting to see my vision made real. The DNA is also closer to its final version in the second drawing. I’d been pulling in my husband all along (he was going to be my webmaster, the one responsible for actually programming everything). His concern with these sketches was that having the links above my name might make them harder to see (since they’d have the buildings as a backdrop). Also, they’d cover up some nice artwork. I agreed, so Matt’s next sketch incorporated that change:

    In addition to finishing the Hindu-style temple, Matt filled in some henna designs on either side. It’s not the final representation of the GEN tattoo, but it’s getting closer. Also, the background on either side of the temple still needs to be finished. But it’s looking very cool.

    It took a half-dozen more iterations back and forth, minor tweaks and clarification of misunderstandings. Turns out I’m not only not much of an artist, I’m pretty poor at communicating an artistic concept. Matt would draw exactly what I’d asked for, then I’d realize when I saw it that what I’d asked him to do was not at all what I wanted. My apologies, Matt.

    In the end, I have a gorgeous website. I’m thrilled with the final result. I’d love to have you visit and leave a comment letting me know what you think.

  • Phantom Limbs

    As I’ve mentioned before, I share my home with three cats. The oldest, Casper, who turns 14 this year, has always been a grump. As he’s moved into his golden years, he’s become even more of a sour puss. He just does not like to be Messed With.

    On Casper’s list of activities that humans must not do to his person:

    1. Brushing, combing or otherwise grooming his fur
    2. Attempting in any way to remove snarls from his coat
    3. Petting past the shoulders
    4. Trimming his nails
    5. Removing him from anywhere he has curled up to nap, including your lap

    Should a human attempt any of these activities, Casper will give a warning growl that will grow in volume and gusto. If the human persists, Casper will bring out the big guns–his claws and teeth. He has excellent aim.

    Several months ago I made the mistake of trying to shave a snarl off Casper’s chest with my horse clippers. Casper snagged the back of my right hand with his claw, hit a vein and a nerve. Lots of blood and part of my hand and pinkie finger are still numb.

    I thought of my minor injury as I was listening to an interview with medical doctor and behavioral neurologist V. S. Ramachandran. Dr. Ramachandran has, among other things, worked with people experiencing phantom limb pain. It turns out there are particular parts of the brain associated with sensation in particular parts of the body. An arm might be removed, but those parts of the brain continue to “report” the sensations that the arm was feeling.

    In one particular case, a patient felt as though his missing left hand was gripped into a tight fist, with the fingernails digging into his palm. He was in constant pain, with no way to find relief. How do you relax a hand that is no longer there?

    Dr. Ramachandran devised a simple therapy to help the patient. He set up a box with a mirror inside, and positioned the patient so that the right hand was reflected in the mirror. The reflection then made it look like the left hand was still there. The patient watched in the mirror as he opened and closed his right hand in an attempt to trick his brain into thinking he’d relaxed his left. It took a number of sessions, but he was eventually pain-free. Such an elegant and simple treatment. The human brain is an amazing instrument.

    I’d like to think it’s superior to the cat brain. But when I consider how the feline set keep us at their beck and call, petting and pampering, feeding them delicacies and providing warm soft places to sleep, I’m not so sure which of us is the genius.

  • Hablando en español

    I have been studying Spanish for a long, long time. For decades, if you start counting from the third grade when I was first exposed to el caballo, el gato, and el perro. In elementary school, we would watch a fifteen minute Spanish lesson on TV, where the teacher would bate, bate chocolate and sing Dos y dos son cuatro, cuatro y dos son seis… (which I just learned comes from a song by Stanley Lucero).

    I took Spanish all through high school, skipped it entirely in college (oddly, there was no foreign language requirement for my BA), then took classes here and there since then, some private, some not. I have a killer accent, probably because I started studying so young, but unless I’m kind of dumped into a situation where I have to speak only Spanish (like when I went to Mexico), I have to think really hard to say what I want to say.

    I bring this up because I just read about an interesting study where it was discovered that bilingual 8-month-old babies are better able to distinguish between two languages, even if they don’t speak either language. Better still, babies living in bilingual homes get a perceptual “boost” that will improve their thinking throughout their lives. Babies not exposed to a second language don’t have the same visual discrimination skills as bilingual babies do.

    Bilingual babies are apparently able to notice variances in how the face moves when a person is speaking one language versus another. Watching a muted video of people speaking French and English, for example, they could see differences in how the lips moved, how the jaw opened and closed and other facial changes. They’d get bored if a language they’d already been exposed to was repeated, but perk up if it was a new-to-them language.

    What’s also interesting about this is that learning a new language when you’re older is one way that’s supposed to fend off dementia. Bilingual Alzheimer’s patients are, on average, four to five years older. That is, being bilingual, they’re staving off the Alzheimer’s a few years longer.

    So, I’m going to keep studying español. Maintain those brain cells best I can. And speak Spanish to my beautiful granddaughter every chance I get.

  • Galactic Sweet Tooth

    I love sweets. Candy is number one, rich dense stuff like dark chocolate, nut-free fudge, See’s bordeaux chocolates (love those sprinkles). I adore Junior Mints and Peppermint Patties, Kit Kat bars, 3 Musketeers (which used to come as three bars, chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla) and Milky Way.

    Next on the treat food chain is ice cream, any chocolate or caramel-type variety (again sans nuts, although pecans in pralines & cream and walnuts in rocky road are acceptable). The ice cream must be topped with lots of gooey topping (chocolate, caramel or butterscotch). A little whipped topping and a cherry are okay, but not required.

    Then come fudge brownies and chocolate fudge cake, preferably frosted with a nice ganache. I also adore lemon bars and lemon cake and just about any kind of pudding. I’m a bit ambivalent about cookies, although a chewy, fresh-baked chocolate chip is pretty yummy.

    Yeah, kind of ridiculous. Luckily I have some self-control, which keeps me from eating a Halloween bag’s worth every day as I might like. I eat a piece of chocolate here, a bowl of ice cream there, then exercise like crazy to keep the sweets from jumping directly on my hips. I really try hard not to gobble up everything in sight.

    Not so the Milky Way (the galaxy, not the candy bar). Apparently, that monstrously big collection of stars has been gobbling up other galaxies in the neighborhood. Astronomers have discovered stars within the Milky Way that all have similar speeds and chemical compositions, which indicates they originally came from a common source. This Science News article describes how the Aquarius star stream within the Milky Way is fairly compactly grouped, which indicates the stars were gulped down by Milky Way somewhat recently. They haven’t yet had time to stretch out, although the Milky Way’s gravity is stretching Aquarius like taffy. There are other star streams that astronomers have identified as well, which were consumed by greedy Milky Way billions of years ago.

    So maybe I don’t feel so bad about my sweet tooth. At least I’m not munching up galaxies like the Milky Way does. I’ve got way more self-control than that.

    Of course, if the galaxies were made of chocolate, it might be a different story entirely.

  • Weirdness

    Cats are pretty peculiar animals. Cat personalities range from dog-like affectionate gregariousness to the high-catness of I-don’t-give-a-damn. Unlike socially-promiscuous dogs, who tend to be madly in love with any human they see, even a friendly cat is much more choosy, dashing off to hide under the bed if an undesirable steps inside the house. These are sweeping generalizations, of course, but since I’m more a cat person than a dog person and because this is my blog, I can sweep all I want.

    I have three cats living with me: Tenka, Zak and Casper.

    This is the indiscriminate Tenka, who drops and rolls on her back at every opportunity, exposing her belly for a rub. Nearly 14 pounds o’ feline love. She’s both a purr factory (loud and rumbly) and fur factory (I swear, she ejects fur like a porcupine does quills). As a mostly white cat, she especially likes to cozy up to people wearing dark clothes. Black pants are a favorite. Her main weirdness–refusing to eat unless I’m standing next to her.

    This is Zak, our cautious former feral. My son and daughter-in-law discovered Zak and his litter-mates hiding with their feral mom outside their apartment. At the direction of a cat rescue group, Ryan & Dani tried to corral all the kittens, but only managed to catch Zak. After many months of complete skittishness around strangers, Zak is now very affectionate, and scary athletic. A big boy (also nearly 14 pounds), he can stretch up at least three feet and jump far higher than that. Many weirdnesses, such as liking to carry his cat toys around like a dog would, tapping his water with his paw before drinking it (a feral cat trick) and burrowing under covers like a rat terrier.

    At 13.5 years old, Casper is the old man of the bunch. He was a stray (found under the deck at my sister’s house), but not particularly feral. He tolerates people, but doesn’t like them very much. Luckily, he puts up with twice-daily insulin shots for his diabetes. But once when I tried to shave off some matted fur, he snagged my hand with a claw, hitting a vein and some nerves. Lots of blood and my pinky is still numb. Casper as a whole is just plain weird.

    There is another kind of weird that only tangentially relates to cats, which is where the science part of this post comes in. I was reading this morning about quantum entanglement, which relates to the infamous Schrödinger’s Cat. Quantum entanglement involves objects which are linked in such a way that they cannot be measured or described unless all the linked objects are measured/described.

    In the case of Schrödinger’s thought experiment, a cat in hidden in a box is linked to the state of a subatomic particle. One state (say, positively charged) means the cat is alive. The other state (say, negatively charged) means the cat is dead. Since you can’t check the charge of the particle until you open the box, you won’t know until then whether the cat is alive or dead.

    Einstein considered this sort of supposition weird, and he didn’t like it, at least as it applied to physics. He felt that the weirdness of entanglements just meant the theory was incomplete (hence his compulsion to find a unified theory of physics). A colleague of his, Bohr, was just fine with weird ambiguities. Luckily they never came to blows over the disagreement.

    Physics is full of cool terms like “quantum entanglements.” There are the names of quarks–up, down, beauty, strange. There’s photon, vortex and ergs. Just shows that physicists have a sense of humor.

    And by the way…I never let my cats hide in a box with questionable subatomic particles. It just isn’t worth the risk.