Category: Uncategorized (Page 11 of 35)

Here’s hoping that 2007 is a great year for everyone, with lots of good reading ahead.

I wrote another 1000 words for Prometheus last Thursday, including my poetic impressions on reading Sinclair Lewis’ novel, It Can’t happen Here, once again. Inspired by John Keats’ poem on re-reading Shakespeare’s King Lear, my poem follows the rhyming scheme, mimics the title and opening line, but then bears little resemblence (nor, I fear, does it even approach anything as well-written as anything by Keats). It took me 10 minutes to complete the first draft of the 14 line sonnet. Once I started words flowed surprising fast. I had jotted down a few notes while reading the book, and used some of these, but bypassed others, and the ending was not what I expected.

I have a mere 850 words left before the issue is done, all the words within one book review, and then the rewriting and proofing commences. All the artwork for the issue has been placed, and so far it looks good. There are several reviews where I could have written a lot more, but I planned specific word constraints for each article, and lacked space for one more book review that I planned to write. The one I’m currently work on is a little tough, so I’m re-reading the book to solidify my impressions.

I’ve been reading a lot from and about Clark Ashton Smith lately. Some new biographical stuff certainly jumped out of nowhere, especially his last few years and how he died. He’s enjoying a sort of ressurgence of attention lately, with new books of stories appearing quite often, and 2007 should see the first volume of a ‘complete’ edition of his works. It’s not realy complete, I learn, since it only covers fantasy stories, and leaves out his many science fiction tales, as well as almost all his poetry. Ah well, maybe next time. Smith is my second favorite writer, so I’m floating around a few thoughts for a brief article as to why. I’ve also learned through reading his letters that his political ideas could be classified as having libertarian leanings, though he tended to eschew politics.

I’d rather be watching Heroes right now, but my network connection this evening is spotty, and one second of video vs. three seconds to load the next one is something I only could take for ten minutes. I spotted several inconsistencies and questions with the show, but despite those issues, I think it’s the best thing on TV in ages. For now.

Pre-ordered F. Paul Wilson’s new novel today, the first day one could do so. Bloodline isn’t my favorite title, and after the last Repairman Jack book left me grumbling and depressed about certain events, I am not sure of the direction in the next book. Also learned today that FPW had open heart surgery in December ’06. Here’s wishing him a speedy recovery. I met him in early November, and probably came across like a total fan-boy, despite only being 20 year his junior.

And so, a rambling entry comes to an end with one more thought. After wrapping up my review of the ATRC audioplays by Robert A. Heinlein, I dug out all my Heinlein books from various shelves in my disorganized study. I think I own less than half his published books, though I’ve read almost all of his books (friends, libraries). I’m going to try to squeeze in some time to read a few of his short stories. I know that the next issue of Prometheus will require quite a few book reviews, and I have a stack of candidates sitting next to me, but it’s been a while since I read anything by RAH, so no time like the present.

Television. I hardly watch any more. First, I never have time. Then, there’s the glaring lack of quality, except on premium channels like HBO, which doesn’t need to stay within the FCC’s lines. And yet, there’s always the rage about ‘reality’ shows, laugh-track ‘comedy,’ and the corpse-fetish shows like CSI, or the current hot drama where the audience is as lost as the cast members. No doubt my tastes are too narrow.

A few people I know recommended Heroes, but due to timing I’ve oly been able to catch the last fifteen minutes of two episodes. I was able to watch 80% of the mid-season finale, and instantly got hooked. I could pay $1.99 for the recap from iTunes, or wait for reruns, but lickly NBC has posted all 11 episodes to date for a limited time. I’ve watched the first four, and while I don’t know how many more I can watch before the freebies are gone, I’m impressed beyond words at this show. I don’t know how long the magic can last, for in my opinion TV shows rarely sustain greatness beyond a couple of seasons, before writers get desparate for attention, and the worm eats itself.

I recently read an essay on lewrockwell.com expounding an ‘Austrian’ theory of culture, with which I have many, many disagreements. I am mulling over a reply and my own theory. The gist of this essay is the author’s embrace of TV as good culture, especially long-lasting shows and collaborative efforts (Gilligan’s Island, X-Files, and The Simpsons are the author’s favorites). I don’t know about the writers of Heroes, of the long-term plan of the show, but were only to last one season, say 22 episodes, that might be a better thing than drag on for five years. There are well-written shows on TV now and in the past where cast members solve things week after week, but a few hours after the show is over you’ve forgotten everything. Heroes instead layers question after question, with multiple story-arcs, and leaves me wondering after each one what will happen. In some sense I already know, as I read every word at the Wikipedia site, which is rife with spoilers. Perhaps I should have waited until after I saw the shows, but I didn’t think I would have that chance until several months from now with re-runs. Heroes is like a well-written novel, and indeed every show is entitled “Chapter X” (with a number instead of X), much like a novel. Perhaps it’s the geek in my, but the thread with Hiro Nakamura is my favorite. I almost wish the show was a long book, as so far this is the most novel like TV show I’ve ever seen.

As editor of Prometheus, the quarterly newsletter of the Libertarian Futurist Society, I try to stick to a reasonable production schedule. This means that the issues should appear each January, April, July, and October. In order to get the issues out to reader by the middle of those months, I have to get them to the printer sometime in the first week (currently the 5th of each month). I’m now able to play a little with the printer deadline, thanks to reducing my trips there from three to one by emailing the issue as PDF instead of hand delivering the CD and then returning to proof the printed copy and later to pick up the final product. However, this year I’ve slipped a little almost every month, in large part due to the addition of child number two. The day job is draining enough, but by the time the kids are in bed and the house somewhat restored, the night is late. Unfortunately, I currently don’t have as many submissions per issue as I’d like, so I find myself in the position of trying to find the time to read books to review, or conceive of articles to write, and then actually hammer out words that make sense on the keyboard. And believe me, little tends to make sense close to midnight after a long day.

After a couple of efforts at jacking up the page length of the issue to 20, time and lack of original material has brought me back to reality and 12 pages; the year 2007 may see Prometheus fall even further, to eight pages. It’s now December 26. My deadline for the January issue looms closer and closer, and only six pages of content are set at the moment. One of those pages I wrote today, but that still means I have six pages to write in one week, then rewrite the pages into somewhat coherent prose, proof and re-read all the pages again. Errors always creep in, sometimes small typos, and sometimes huge gaffes. You’d think, why not space it out over months, instead of fretting at the last minute. The answer is that I have been doing just that, as I needed two months to read the material that makes up my contribution for this issue. I worked under the assumption that I have to create 50-80% of the issue, although I would prefer 0-5%. In order to write one brief review, I’ve read a long work of fiction, a critical biography, and some other source material. In order to review three audioplays (actually seven, on three CDs), I’ve spent several hours listening to the works, looked for artwork to accompany the pieces, and jotted notes throughout the process. In order to review another book, I’ve read several interviews, the book itself and a related novella, and the author’s autobiography. Not everything that I read makes it into my reviews, but in the end I find the process necessary. Those digressions often end up quite rewarding as well, but send me down raods quite unrelated to the actually production of the newsletter.

I do find myself wondering if it’s all really worth it, though. I’ve now completed two years in my second stint as editor. I have less time in the past for this sort of stuff, but at least it forces me to write something. I often feel that I might not write anything without a literal gun to my head. Witness this rarely updated blog, where 90% of the time I post only brief, newsy snippets and links. usually, after each is issue is mailed out, there is only silence. I assume most of the issues find their addressees, though one or two come back return to sender. I can only hope for the possibility down the road of more contributors, as I know there are people out there with interesting things to say. But perhaps in the age of blogs and the internet, an old-school print newsletter is just heading down the same road as the dodo.

Reason Magazine writer David Weigel rips into a trio of right-wing fictional dystopias. There appears to be little of interest to libertarians, but it’s interesting to see how all the talk on right-wing radio and blogosphere about culture wars is leaking into fiction. I’m glad a libertarian writer like Weigel has made a pre-emptive strike on these books, as I am sure that somewhere, somehow, some critics will lump these books and writers into the “libertarian sf” camp.

Via the RSS feed from SFSignal, news that H. Beam Piper’s awarding winning novel, Lone Star Planet is available online at the Gutenberg Project. Nice effort, though I question the people at Gutenberg’s statement that this work is not copyrighted in the US. Piper died 40 years, so he doesn’t need the income, and his book is online for free, but I was under the impression Piper’s copyright still was held by someone. Perhaps my information is outdated.

One of the several books that I’m currently reading is a curious novel by Carol Emshwiller, called The Mount. The version that I have was published in 2002 by Small Beer Press. It received a Nebula nomination for best novel in 2003, and won the Philip K. Dick Award that year. Emswhiller’s style flirts with postmodern/slipstream methods, meaning for me it takes a while to adapt to the novel and writer. The Mount deals with a future Earth enslaved by small creatures called Hoots who enslave and ride people as beast of burden. I’m only a few pages into the book, which I picked up by chance at World Fantasy Con in November, yet already I wonder if this was a Prometheus Award nominee in 2003. So far it certainly fits the typical nominee profile (as much as there is one), but I shall have to see where the book leads. Emshwiller’s been writing for decades, but is one of the many names so far that I’ve just missed, as there are now so many books published each year in sf.

From Wired magazine, word that soon you will be able to inhabit the vrtual world of the Serenity crew. No word on the timeline or whether you can play a reaver, but part of me wonders, “enough already.” I guess I’m not a browncoat, as I tru;y enjoyed both the TV episodes and the movie, but beyond that am unwilling to commit myself to that world. Then again, I’m not a serious games, played Warcraft when it first came out as a solo game and against one other person on a local network, and prefer the virtual world between the pages of a good book. MMORPGs may be the future of gaming, just as social sites like MySpace may be the future of the web. In that case, I’m a dead-end branch on the vast electronic tree of the future.

Colorado Freedom Report has a new interview with Prometheus Award-winning author, L. Neil Smith, dated December 7.

I’ve been busy the past few weeks reading books from a different time. Or is that different times. I finished re-reading Sinclair Lewis’ 1935 novel It Can’t Happen Here, and am working my way through the 1961 biography written by Mark Schorer, which is far from kind. I’m in the middle of writing my brief introduction to my strangest review format yet, in sonnet form, of Lewis’ novel.

I also finished last night a book that’s long been on my list to read, Jack Williamson’s The Humanoids, first published in short story form in 1947 as “With Folded Hands.” (I am delighted to discover that my unread copy of Pulphouse Publishing’s Author’s Choice Monthly Issue 5 – Jack Williamson (1990) contains this story.) Somewhere in my library I also have the sequel, The Humanoid Touch, which is now on my must-read list. The former novel has been nominated twice for the Libertarian Futurist Society’s Hall of Fame award, yet I don’t believe it’s ever been a finalist. That’s a shame, as for at least the first 4/5th of the novel I was riveted by the action and plot, and the novel far exceeded my expectations. The conclusion surprised me, and left me wondering about the author’s intentions. I have a somewhat ambiguous view of Williamson’s fiction. On the one hand, he was a giant in the field of sf. He died a couple of weeks ago at age 98, and continued to teach and write virtually to the end. Yet I have read very few of his books. I tried a few years ago to read his then new novel, The Silicon Dagger, but I don’t think I finished it. His story in the recent Baen collection Visions of Liberty, “Devil’s Star,” was in my opinion the worst of the lot. I wasn’t sure if the style was deliberately pulp, or if Williamson eschewed style for straight two-fisted prose. On the other hand, his politics seem influenced by libertarian ideas, as he stated in this interview from 1999. I wanted to see how those ideas influenced his fiction. Yet my experience with the two works I mentioned prevented me from reading more of Williamson’s work, until his name came up again during a conversation I had in early November at the World Fantasy Con in Austin, Texas. Sadly, not two days after I started reading The Humanoids I read the news that Williamson died. I’ve nominated this book again for the LFS Hall of Fame, and intend to write a review in the January issue of Prometheus.

Although unrelated to the purpose of this blog, I’m currently reading The Selected Letters of Clark Ashton Smith. Smith is probably my second favorite writer after Jack Vance, and a superb poet as well. The book is at times fascinting, mundane, sad, and illuminating. I wish I could afford the earlier Arkham House editions of his works, but instead I have to wait for newer and cheaper editions.

A current writer who deserves greater acclaim is John C. Wright, whose first published novel, The Golden Age could have, should have won the Prometheus Award for best novel in 2003. His latest novel appeared in bookstores last week. His regularly updated Livejournal blog contains many intersting discussions and thoughts. Wright recently converted from atheism to Christianity, which influences quite a few of his posts. As a non-militant atheist I have yet to read anything that will convert me to any theism, but he’s a damn good fiction writer.

I learned yesterday via email that the audioplay production of A.E. van Vogt’s story, “The Weapons Shops,” has been completed. Apparently it already premiered this Summer at Dragon*Con (scroll down half-way for a group photo) this year in Atlanta, and also played at a frefan party at the WorldCon in Los Angeles. Adapted by Brad Linaweaver and featuring Richard Hatch of Battlestar Gallactica fame (the original series), the CD is not yet available on the home site of the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company. The short story itself, however, can be found in Baen Books’ onmibus collection Freedom! which combined all the stories previously gathered under Give Me Liberty and Visions of Liberty. These two collections won a Special Award in 2005 from the Libertarian Futurist Society. “The Weapon Shops” is a classic of libertarian sf, and along with Vernor Vinge’s “The Ungoverned” and Eric Frank Russell’s “And Then There Were None” stand as the best pieces in that book. I already bought the three Heinlein audioplays from ARTC, and so far have enjoyed “The Man Who Travelled in Elephants” via my iPod. This CD transferred quite nicely, with each track titled and clear. The other two CDs must not have been loaded into the database that iTunes checks, as all the tracks say “untitled.” I suppose I will need to update these manually. Listening to the story adds a different dimension to appreciating them as works of fiction, and at ca. 30 minutes does not demand too much of your time. I saw ARTC perform live back in 1995, and you can almost visualize them from the audio alone.