Cory Doctorow, New Arrivals

This entry was originally going to be my paper on Rousseau and Matthew G. Lewis' The Monk, but Blogger freaks out every time I try to transfer the text from my Word document. Maybe I'll upload it somewhere and post the link instead...I had the same problem with a post on mythology I went through the trouble of typing, only to find out I couldn't put it up here. Grr.

So instead of posting my paper, which probably no one wants to see anyway, I decided that today's entry would be a review of Cory Doctorow's YA novel Little Brother. This book was up for this year's Hugo Award, and deservedly so, I think. As you can probably tell by the title, Little Brother pulls heavily (and quite beautifully) on George Orwell's 1984, and would probably be an awesome follow-up to any teen reading Orwell's masterpiece.

I've been on a major kick with this whole "classics-updated-for-the-new-age-of-politics" thing (just ask me how I feel about the incredible Gundam Wing revamp that is Gundam 00) and Little Brother does not disappoint on that front. I just wish Doctorow had written this novel a few years earlier, while I was still in high school and growing up in the shadow of 9/11 inspired domestic fear-mongering legislation like the Patriot Act. I can just imagine the uproar his book would have caused in my little reading circle! I've already been advocating it to several of my friends, many of whom went to high school with me.

Honestly, at first I was a little put off by Doctorow's use of 'hip slang', which occasionally...wasn't that hip. I got a good snicker or two (at at least one moment of "WTF, srsly?") but after a few chapters I didn't even realize I was listening to a 17 year old techie geek speak. All I was aware of was how rocking awesome the book had become once it started really taking off. Doctorow's knowledge and use of technology is both frightening and seriously cool, and kind of makes me want to pick up a computer programming book or two so I can learn how to actually do some of the bad-ass tricks Marcus pulls off in the novel. Also, he managed to piss me off all over again about the U.S. running rough-shod over MY personal rights and privacy. Ooh, I felt 16 and angry again!

The plot summary on Amazon covers everything else you probably want to know. I simply felt the need to share my exciting discovery with the world! If you see a copy of this book, at least pick it up and look it over. It may be one of the best books you read this year.

---

In addition to Last Drink Bird Head, I have a copy of Richard K. Morgan's fantasy The Steel Remains on its way to my doorstep. It's shipping all the way from London though (isn't it sad when directly importing something is cheaper that buying it used from a middle man?) so it may be a few weeks before it arrives.

Next review- possibly Max Brooks' World War Z? Seriously, it totally rocks. Or perhaps Greg Pak's and Carmine Di Giandomenico's X-Men: Magneto Testament. Guys, when a graphic novel is good, it's really, really good, and Magneto Testament is AWESOME.

I'm Still Alive!

My apologies for disappearing for so long. Class and work have been keeping me occupied from dawn til far past dusk, and I haven't had time to wash dishes, much less blog. In fact, I'm only on here because I'm taking a break from writing my latest paper. I have a few announcements to make, just to catch up with myself-

Miyavi will be performing in Dallas on my 21st birthday (in less than one week). I'm not going. I don't want to discuss it.

Last Drink Bird Head is on its way to my doorstep! It's the latest anthology from Ann and Jeff Vandermeer, and I'm terribly excited about it! It's a limited edition, 160 page collection of flash fiction from 80 writers (if my counting can be trusted) including Hal Duncan, Felix Gilman, Jon Courtney Grimwood, Jeffery Ford, K.J. Bishop, Jay Lake, Cat Rambo, Ekaterina Sedia, and Jeffrey Thomas. I'm so excited about this book that I sacrificed Miyavi's concert for it. Even better, all proceeds from the sale of this book go to ProLiteracy.Org, which is just as totally awesome as the book itself. Anyone who hasn't bought a copy yet should order one- it's a guaranteed keeper and it benefits a great cause. Now I just have to order Jeff Vandermeer's Booklife...after another paycheck or two.

Halloween is this weekend! I have to work on Saturday, sadly, but I'll be working in my costume. Beware the zombie elf behind the counter at the bookstore!

World Fantasy is also this weekend. Again, I won't be there, but this year's lineup for the World Fantasy Awards is, naturally, pretty freaking badass. I may have to stream the ceremony at work, because (except for every category Gaiman is in) there is some seriously stiff competition. I'm not even sure who I want to win in some cases...

In fact, Ekaterina Sedia's The Rhetorics of Fantasy , which I've already posted about here, is up for an award, and I just found out that she's written another book on the genre with Edward James, A Short History of Fantasy. Jeez, I'm going to need another shelf by the end of the week. That, and another job.

Artists Need to Eat, Too

Amanda Fucking Palmer on why artists actually do need to be paid for their art. (A la Hal Duncan, again, in reference to his recent experiment in selling his stories directly to his readers.)

Shakespeare gotta get paid, son.

New Anthology (And Awards)

The Vandermeers have done it again. Once again, they've got an AWESOME anthology with a totally bad-ass lineup on the way- Last Drink Bird Head, due out in October/November. (Basically on my 21st birthday. I may need to buy myself a present.) It's a limited print, and the release party will be held at the World Fantasy Award ceremony (where the Vandermeers will be holding their own award ceremony for the newly inaugurated Last Drink Bird Head award.) Yes, it's a strange name. Yes, it's probably a very strange anthology. And yes, I want the damn thing so bad I can taste it. Hey, it's only $30...plus shipping...maybe I can sell my TV. You only turn 21 once, right? I deserve it.

And damn Vandermeer for also releasing Booklife in the month I am the most broke. (I think it's coming out this month, at least. Maybe not!) And I missed the very short print life of Steve Berman's latest book, Mr. October's Naughty Bedside Reader. Damn, damn, double damn. It was released in August and it's already out of print and unavailable. I knew I should have pre-ordered the damn thing. I wonder if he'll be putting out another Wilde Stories anthology this year?

Peadar O'Guilin Interview

Cool interview with Pedaar O'Guilin, author of The Inferior and the upcoming The Deserter. I have the first and loved it, and I'll definitely be picking up the sequel when it comes out. I also stalk Peadar's blog, because he cracks me up. It's a strange thing for me to discover someone new who has my same sense of humor.

Zombies! Zombies!

Yes! Yes! Yes!

Prepare yourselves! The invasion is nigh!

Muahahahaha!

Ten Things

Ten Things

Ten things I have learned about writing -- a la Elizabeth Bear and Ben Peek. This can also be read as a Stages of Writing thing, as these are largely consecutive "steps", to my mind. So:

1. Don't eat the crayons, even if "purple tastes gooooood". No, really. Put that down; it's not meant for that.*

2. Young talent must be nurtured. A child who has a certain knack for, say, writing stories in English class needs to be taken aside and told it in order to make them realise that they're special, to encourage them and (more importantly) alienate them from the dickwad jocks around, breeding a seething resentment of their low status in the high school pecking order. Compensatory arrogance and narcissistic rage are the powerhouse of the creative impetus.

3. Writing is 100% inspiration and 100% perspiration. It's what you breathe and what you sweat, all of it, equally. It often stinks for that reason, but not devouring shit will usually improve this state of affairs.

4. Flattery is for fuckwits; ruthless critique is the only critique of any value. Workshops can be valuable then, but if a workshop session doesn't make you want to kill someone** it's not worth shit. Even if it does you probably won't listen to the content and rewrite your crappy mood-piece / novel fragment / background summary so it's an actual fucking story. You will however want to a) get your own back on the bastards b) show these fuckers that you really are a genius, so there. In attempting to achieve the first you will hone your critical skills. In attempting to achieve the latter you will apply those skills to your own writing.

5. Learn to kill your darlings. But torture them first. And after you've killed them, strip the meat from their bones, take them apart and build them into one motherfucking huge serial-killer-style shrine. Alternatively, put them back together and reflesh them with muscle and sinew sliced from your own naked body (or neighbourhood pets) and vat-grown in your underground laboratory; raise them from the dead as a glorious army of skeletal warriors, unquestioning servants in your plan for world domination.

6. Shoeboxes full of adolescent scribblings make pretty fire. Should your army of undead sentences rise up against you, ceasing to obey your every whim and becoming instead an unruly mob seeking equal rights and inclusion in every story or novel you try to write, putting all of them -- every last motherfucking one of them -- to the torch will liberate you to start anew, utilising the skills acquired over five-ten years of twiddling and tweaking. As a wise man once said: exterminate all the brutes.

7. There is really only one way to be a writer: start writing, carry on writing, and keep on writing until it's five in the morning. A mix of uppers (e.g coffee) and downers (e.g. cigarettes) can keep you balanced for an indefinite period on the knife-edge between consciousness and complete collapse. This is known as "the Zone". Remember: sleep-deprivation is the poor man's hallucinogen.

8. Bad writers burrow; good writers steel themselves and face the fucking consequences when the monster they've created gets loose and runs amok inside their heads, raping innocent memories and pillaging knowledge, growing in might and violence until the landscape of the mind is all but consumed in chaos. Fear not. Once you have tamed the monster it will be a loyal friend and ally, demanding only the occassional virgin sacrifice. And that's what virgins are for.

9. "Art" is a poncy term for craft combined with flair. What distinguishes the talented writer from the good writer (c.f. Delany) is having the audacity to take on an insanely difficult project and the panache to fail gloriously, shrug it off and start on another even more insanely difficult project. Pretentious writing is only pretentious because it is not ambitious enough. Your detractors will not make this distinction, but what do they know? Bastards.

10. Fuck that shit.

* 1a. This simple childhood rule applies also in adult life to: playing computer Solitaire; browsing the interweb; checking email; surfing for p0rn. If you are doing any of this you are eating the crayons. Stop it now.

** 4a. If the someone that ruthless critique makes you want to kill is yourself then you are not a writer and never will be. You are a delicate flower... to be snipped off and worn as a buttonhole by men of cruel wit and savage passions.

...
Once again, I have stolen something off of someone else's blog. This time it's Hal Duncan's, since I was on there for the last post looking for something else entirely. Also, read the comments on his page!

"Good Books Don't Have to Be Hard"?

Ok, I respect Levi Grossman. However, I have to call bullshit on his article in the Wall Street Journal. Catherynne Valente (my hero) beat me to the punch here, and in fact brought Grossman's wrong-headed meandering to my attention. However, I still need to grouch a little bit.

Grossman seems to think there is some sort of vast intellectual conspiracy, which looks down upon contemporary literature and plot and calls it 'popular fiction', 'entertainment', 'escapist', and not at all literary. The crap he spews on the 'evils' of Modernist literature stands on its own.*

I'd spend more time on this, but I need to go home and write my book. Read his article, Valente's response, and if you have a few dozen hours to kill read Hal Duncan's blog. All of it. (I tried to skim through really fast and locate a few of Duncan's posts on genre and on literary fiction vs. popular fiction, but of course since I'm actually looking for them they are nowhere to be found. But, they are there, and they are excellent, so I encourage you to go on the hunt.)

Also, on a completely unrelated note, I want this book- Rhetorics of Fantasy by Farah Mendlesohn. Fuck yeah.

*All the words in quotes are mine, not his.

Punk Subgenres

I have mixed feelings about this trend- mannerpunk? Really? Stitchpunk? What the fuck? Splatterpunk made me laugh, though. Mythpunk I like, steam/clock/dieselpunk etc., and of course I've always loved cyberpunk...but this feels like we're just overdoing it, now. Not everything has to be punk, you know? Or else there would be no point to being punk...

Anyway, here's the article I'm fussing about.

Bookstore Horror!

I was shelving history books downstairs. The store had just had a recent influx (or rather, glut) of history titles, and it was taking a team of us to get everything put up in a timely manner. So, I was happily humming to myself, shifting British history books along the shelves to fit everything, when I noticed a slim black paperback tucked behind the Margaret Thatcher biographies. Take note of that- behind the Margaret Thatcher biographies. Then, imagine my horror when I pulled out the book and read the title.

How to Impress Any Woman.*

Margaret Thatcher.

I cried a little, laughed hysterically, cried a little more, and ran upstairs to share my discovery with my coworkers and now the world.

* OK, so I'm not totally sure if that's the actual title- I was a little traumatized and I don't have the book with me at the moment. But, you get the idea.

Outer Alliance

So...I'm way late in doing this (the day everyone was supposed to post was actually the 1st...but we'll pretend) but I figured I'd join in the fun anyway.

*Deep Breath* (Wow, it's like coming out all over again!)



As a member of the Outer Alliance, I advocate for queer speculative fiction and those who create, publish and support it, whatever their sexual orientation and gender identity. I make sure this is reflected in my actions and my work.

The next step is supposed to be a link or an excerpt or something something something reflecting one's work in queer spec fic...but, um, yeah. What I want to post is still just a title and an idea in my head, and I've convinced myself that everything else I've written is crap (or just WAY too long to deal with...or on the computer without internet access!) so I refuse to post here. That said, I have the vague goal of getting the particular piece mentioned above written soon enough to submit it to Crossed Genres, which is doing a LGBTQ themed issue. We'll see if I can get my head together soon enough to pull that one off- and we'll see if it's even remotely good enough to get published.

Speaking of coming out- submitting my "I want to join" post on the Outer Alliance's page may have been the most intimidating thing I've ever done in my life. Calling myself a writer when I've never been published (I'm not counting my local junior college magazine- especially since they wouldn't take genre fiction), and calling myself a blogger when I have one reader (hello, Aeri) seems a wee bit pretentious and insubstantial. That, and the Outer Alliance's membership list is composed of a number of my personal heroes- Hal Duncan and Cat Valente, guys! There are so many heavy hitters on the list, and more sure to come...and here I am, saying "Oh, um, I'm really nobody, but can I listen in on the awesomeness going down here? I'll be quiet and good, I swear..." and hoping no one tags me for an impostor.

Oh dear...class starts in an hour and a half and I need to find lunch. I sort of like having a computer lab to hang out in for the four hours between my classes! I think I'll be able to blog a little more often now.

(FYI- The Monk by Matthew G. Lewis is one of the funniest freaking books I've ever read. Am I alone in this?)

I WANT

This shirt...and this shirt. Both are available on The Softer World's website, which also has various other awesome goods floating about. I'm not a huge fan of the comic strip itself, but their merchandise (well, at least the shirts) kicks ass.

And holy hell, this is the second post in two days! I'm on a roll! (Though probably now I won't post for a month. Oh well.)

20 Facts About Neil Gaiman

I stole this from Book Spot Central (which apparently stole it from Jim Hines). It was too good to pass up. (My favorites are 5 and 11.)

1. Neil Gaiman once wrote a Nebula-winning story using only the middle row of his keyboard.
2. Harper Collins has taken out a 2.5 million dollar insurance policy on Neil Gaiman’s accent.
3. If you write 1000 words and Neil Gaiman writes 1000 words, Neil Gaiman has written more than you.
4. Neil Gaiman does not use Microsoft’s grammar-check. Microsoft uses a Gaiman-check.
5. Neil Gaiman once did the New York Times crossword puzzle in pen. In fifteen minutes. He won two Hugo awards for it.
6. Neil Gaiman is who the Ghostbusters call.
7. Most agents charge a 15% commission. Neil Gaiman’s agent pays him an extra 15% for the privilege of saying “I’m Neil Gaiman’s agent.”
8. William Shakespeare once came back from the dead to ask for Neil Gaiman’s autograph.
9. Neil Gaiman is the reason nobody teaches “I before E except after C” anymore.
10. Some writers take inspiration from the muse. The muse takes inspiration from Neil Gaiman.
11. Neil Gaiman once groped Harlan Ellison.
12. The pen is mightier than the sword; Neil Gaiman has mastered fourteen different styles of penmanship.
13. Rumor has it that a NY editor rejected Neil Gaiman’s first book. This can not be confirmed, as the editor in question was never heard from again.
14. Neil Gaiman can tweet 175 characters.
15. Neil Gaiman’s personal library includes an autographed copy of the Necronomicon.
16. Hitler actually won World War II. Then Neil Gaiman wrote an alternate-history story in which the allies won, and reality was too intimidated to argue the point.
17. Some authors write in omniscient point of view. Neil Gaiman lives it.
18. Neil Gaiman’s next novel is expected to win the Nebula, the Hugo, and the Heisman Trophy.
19. In any given week, 7 of the top 10 books on the NYT Bestseller List are by pseudonyms of Neil Gaiman.
20. Neil Gaiman has never written a deus ex machina ending. However, God once wrote a Gaiman ex machina ending.

New Kid's Book from Neil Gaiman!

Gaiman and Charles Vess are collaborating on another picture book! This one is based on Gaiman's poem "Instructions", and Vess' illustrations look completely stunning, as usual.

Gaiman's Blog-
http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/08/your-instructions-should-you-choose-to.html

Vess' Blog-
http://greenmanpress.com/news/archives/447

I love posting blog links today, apparently. Oh, I'm so excited! Blueberry Girl was amazing- I can't wait to see the final product for this one! Sadly it looks like it's not due out until 2010, but it'll be worth the wait, I'm sure.

Wired's 5 Worst Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books

This link amused me. I agree with it with the most part (though I haven't read the Heinlein and I won't read the Meyer, so...)

5 Science Fiction/Fantasy Books We Wish Had Never Been Written

WorldCon

WorldCon.
Montreal.
Canada. (Where it's not 102 degrees outside.)
Peadar O'Guilin.
Neil Gaiman.
Catherynne M. Valente.
Hugo Awards.
Panels on EVERYTHING.

Guess where I wasn't this weekend?

Gackt Update

Got the album in. It is everything I could have hoped for, and more. Oh, so pretty... I'm going to make the upstairs neighbor hate me for playing this thing...(unless I convert her to Gackt fangirl-hood as well...hmm, new mission, perhaps?)

Then Again...

The last post may have been about restoring my faith in humanity just a bit...but this one isn't.

U.S. Troops Accused of Damaging the Hanging Gardens of Babylon While Converting Them into a Base

It's things like this that make me ashamed of living in this country.

Hope for Humanity

This is a beautiful thing.

Bookstore Moment

The phone rings. I pick it up, give my usual greeting. I'm juggling an armload of history books and watching more customers walk in the store with things to sell back. It's been crazy all day, and I'm stressed and sweaty and sore and I really need to get downstairs to check these history books because there are stacks of other things to be looked at and added up still waiting on the counter...and I'm really hoping that the customer on the phone just wants to know our hours or something because there's so much to do and I need to hurry up and do it...and do you know what the oh-so-pressing question is that this customer has? The question which was so important she had to call us up and make sure before she came all the way to our store?

"Do you carry John Grisham?"

...

Head + Desk = Satisfying Thud.

Yes ma'am, we carry John Grisham. In paperback and hardback, and in multiple copies. Or would you like a free collection of Grisham novels someone donated to the store this morning? Or perhaps the collection someone donated yesterday, which we've already thrown in the dumpster out back? (For that matter, check the dumpster down your street. Grisham novels have been known to spontaneously appear there.) We are, after all, a bookstore.

Gundam 00

Today was the day the first season was due to be released. I have credit built up from selling things back at Hastings. So, can someone tell me why it is 6 o'clock in the afternoon and I'm not at home watching Ritsuka-look-alikes (such a sour face!) and robots blow things up?

Because Hastings doesn't have my box sets.

BASTARDS.

I want my Gundam 00 and I want it now!

On a somewhat related note, this is why I love cosplay and cosplayers. It warms my heart a little.

Gackt!

Yes, today I not only bought a CD (which I never do- they've been proven to be Not Worth the Investment, in my opinion) but I totally scored a freaking Gackt import album for $8.92! I've NEVER seen one of these damn things for less than $20- ever. Ever, ever, ever. And believe me when I say I've been hunting for years... dammit. The album is Mars, and it contains the outstanding tracks Vanilla, Mirror, and Oasis, as well as a number of other songs I'm not as familiar with. I like what I heard on the little soundbytes offered on Hasting's website, though, though I do believe I will be thoroughly pleased when the disc comes in. (Holy cow, I just bought a CD! I haven't done that in AGES!)

In the meantime, here's a (translated!) video of a live performance of Vanilla...complete with Gackt in tight snakeskin pants, humping his guitar player (Masa) onstage. Life is good, people.

And have I mentioned how much I hate this man for being so damn pretty? Gah! Just look at him! It isn't fair!

Catbus

Seriously.
Yes.

Robots!

I've been absent for a while, what with moving and getting settled and all, so I've been neglecting my blog. I'm still a bit rushed, so for now I don't have a real blog post (though one on forms of mythology is on the way), so today you get stupid-cute robot cupcakes. Enjoy. (Click on the picture to see the whole thing.)

Best Twilight Review Ever

From respected fantasy writer Elizabeth Hand, published in the Washington Post. (And thanks to Hal Duncan for posting a link on his blog, where I found it.)

Awesome Video

Dr. Who Meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOuOTOl-3gA

(Since I can't figure out how to embed video, you must go clicky on the link.)

Kenzaburo Oe

I have found a new adorable old-man author for my collection. This is Kenzaburo Oe, a Japanese author whose fiction revolves mostly around the Post-WWII years (and especially post-Hiroshima) in Japanese history.

My favorite of his novels is Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids. It follows a group of young boys (juvenile delinquents, if their paranoid elders can be trusted) as they are shunted from one village to another, seeking shelter from the elements and the air-raiding armies. They are finally abandoned by their adult supervisors in a mountain village and left to fend for themselves for a few days, only to be punishedfor finding ways to survive when their supervisors return. I won't give away all of the surrounding circumstances or the conclusion, but I can say that I defiantly recommend the novel. It's a short read- I read it in about a day, and it's not even two hundred pages long. It's a bit of a mix between Battle Royale and Lord of the Flies without the campy flavor of the first or the...well, actually it's almost as disturbing as the latter, and it's a good study of the tension, paranoia, and social insecurity caused by war and the mistrust of youth.

I've also got a copy of his Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness, which contains four short novels including a semi-autobiographical story about a man coming to grips with having a mentally challenged son (that is the PC term these days, isn't it?) and another story following the dying days of a man with liver cancer (which he's probably imagined).

Latest Fangasm

Guess what?!?!?!?!?! Guess what?!?!?!?!? Guess what?!?!?!?!

Eeek! There are TWO Gundam 00 mangas coming out this year, and those are just the ones that have been announced so far!

Also! Also! There's a lite novel due for release this December! Squee!

And I'll be able to figure out what the difference between these season one box sets is once they've been released this summer...all I can really tell is that they've got different cover art, and I have NO IDEA why one is more expensive than the other...

This show is my new Gundam Wing, and I'm having ISSUES, in case you haven't noticed. I have a feeling I'll be collecting everything 00 related like I do with Wing...and yes, I've definitely been lusting after those Gundam figurines. I have been for years now.

(And Flashback: I've watched the first half on Rurouni Kenshin, season two in the last two days. I'd forgotten how much I freaking love that show, and now I have to hunt down affordable copies of the other seasons.)

Latest Orders

Ummm... I'd do a "Latest Arrivals" post, but other than Gaiman's Mirrormask and Lorca's Selected Letters I can't actually think of anything I've brought home recently. So, instead, I've decided to post a quick list of those books I'm expecting to arrive soon! Also, no pictures this time, because I'm lazy.

First off is The City and the City by China Mieville. A murder mystery novel set in another one of Mieville's imaginative settings, this promises to be a great read on par with his earlier novel, Perdido Street Station.

I also got fed up with waiting for a copy to show up in any local bookstore and finally ordered Catherynne Valente's Palimpsest. I read a short story set in the same world as this novel and (as usual) fell in love with Valente's prose... which broke my will and forced me to bump this up on my reading list.

Another book I just had to have because of a short story- I read M. John Harrison's contribution to The New Weird anthology (edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer) and decided I had to have his novel, Viriconium. The book and the short story are, again, set in the same world. Roman culture meets high tech society. Sweet!

Kelly Link's Trampoline: An Anthology is also on the way. It contains stories by Christopher Barzak (see my blog on his book The Love We Share... here), Carol Emshwiller, Jeffrey Ford, Karen Joy Fowler, Christopher Rowe, and a number of other people. Link is a top-notch editor and writer, and several of the names in this anthology make me positively drool.

Speaking of Christopher Barzak, I've got his other book One for Sorrow in the mail. This one seems to be worlds away from his story collection, The Love We Share Without Knowing, and actually looks like it may have something in common with Steve Berman's YA gay ghost story, Vintage (which I have another blog on... here).

And... speaking of Steve Berman... Trysts: A Triskaidecollection or Queer and Weird Stories is also on the way. Again, I seem to be developing a fixation on a handful of certain authors. (No Hal Duncan in this week's shipment...Not even a short story. That's a first. Although I'm still stalking his blog.)

Puppy Face

National Spelling Bee 2009

So, even though I (somehow) manage to watch the National Spelling Bee almost every year, it never ceases to amaze me how incredibly freaking good these kids are. I'm jealous, really. Even when they don't actually know how to spell a particular word, they know enough about the rules of forming words that they can piece together an almost always accurate spelling. Personally, I'm proud of myself for getting the word origin right on most of the spelling words (I swear they were all French- even the ones that weren't), though that really had no effect on my ability to actually spell them.

This year, the winning word was "laodicean", which is a Greek to Latin word with an English combining form meaning "lukewarm or indifferent in religion or politics". My favorite word, however, was "bouguiniste", a word that went from Dutch to French and which means "a dealer in second-hand books". Guess what I'm going to tell people I am from now on?

I can't help but wonder if there'll be another volume of stories like Logorrhea: Good Words Make Good Stories. It's a great concept for an anthology, and every one of the writers involved is a powerhouse in his of her own right, so unless they get an equal collection of stories for a sequel volume it may not be a good idea...but if they do, it is.

New Arrivals

Saints and Strangers by Angela Carter

De Profundis by Oscar Wilde

The Crimson Labyrinth by Yusuke Kishi

Eidolon by Jonathan Strahan

Three Plays: Blood Wedding, Yerma, and The House of Bernada Alba by Fredrico Garcia Lorca

The New Weird edited by Ann & Jeff Vandermeer

50 Hottest SF Women

I don't really agree with the order of this list, but I'm sharing it anyway.

http://www.ugo.com/movies/top-50-hottest-sci-fi-girls/?cur=mikaela-barnes&cmpid=ppc_ggl_ugo_hsg_081508&gclid=CODy2t_D1poCFQghnAodUmL72w

Genre and Literature

To start off with, I want to make this clear that this isn't a scholarly essay of any sort- I'm just blathering about something that's been on my mind lately. For the last month or so I've been coming across various blog posts and web pages discussing the differences between 'genre' fiction (science fiction, mysteries, romances, etc.) and 'literary' fiction (a bit of a redundant term meaning anything that isn't sf/f, mystery, etc.) and why the two are for some reason considered to be antithetical to one another.

Now wait just a damn minute.

While I agree with everything Hal Duncan says on his examination on literary fiction (not all that surprising- I tend to agree with him on most things) I can't help but wonder- why isn't anyone else talking about how literary fiction is, by it's very nature of being fiction, a fantastical genre? That's right, I said it- literary fiction is the same basic thing as that oft-derided 'genre' of fantasy fiction.

Why do I make this claim? Well, it's an argument of semantics, really. Fiction is made-up. You can dress is up as 'contemporary' or 'classic literature', you can call it slipstream or urban literature or whatever-the-fuck-else, but at the end you're still left with fiction. Fiction isn't true. Non-fiction is true (don't get me started on that 'creative non-fiction' crap. That's a separate blog post of fussiness) and can be considered to be in the same realm of literature as, well, literary fiction. However, if you're writing non-fiction... and unless you're writing 'creative non-fiction'... you're writing something that's well researched and created in order to inform or incite, and you're presenting it as truth and usually not as entertainment. There are exceptions to this, of course, in the form of gossipy bio-pics and collections of trivia and humorous tales that have no point other than to amuse. But, I'm wandering. My point is that while non-fiction can be just as literary as, say, Hemingway's Farewell to Arms, fiction in general is a sort of fantasy by virtue of being made-up, no matter if it contains dragons and elves or soccer moms and knitting clubs (which is another trend which pisses me off- but again, different topic).

And do you know what? There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. The whole swords-and-sorcery connotation associated with the fantasy 'genre' is off-putting to many readers, I know, but at the heart of every novel, regardless of its literary aspirations, there is an echo of the word 'fantasy'. Hal Duncan mentions the suspension of disbelief being vital to reading fantasy (as we know the genre), but I can't help but ponder about all those slightly odd 'contemporary fiction' novels, those classified as 'strange fiction' or slipstream'. Does 'legitimacy' in the more 'literary' fiction depend on being 'predictible' and 'realistic'? Or can we admit that simply by being fiction, even the most literary novel has a little spark of the fantastic at its core?

Thor 2011!

Holy cow, Kirk's daddy is going to be Thor in Marvel's 2011 adaptation of the comic! They've cast Loki as well, but he's not listed on Imdb yet.

Imdb.Com's Thor Page

Marvel's Announcement of Loki's Actor

What's next? Confirmation that Samuel L. Jackson will in fact be Nick Fury? (Who seems to be white again in the comics...except in Ultimates, where he's still black...jeez, I can't keep up with this guy's racial changes...)

Christopher Barzak's The Love We Share Without Knowing

I have my first contender for 2009's top five books.

Christopher Barzak's The Love We Share Without Knowing is a collection of interlinked short stories which explore the concepts of identity and nationality, namely Japanese and American. The stories follow a varying cast of characters, some of whom meet at various points of the book and some of whom vanish altogether after one fateful event. Each character, however, is linked to the others by a twisting thread of love (some would say fate, others chance), giving the collection its name. Not every character gets a chance to tell his or her story before vanishing from the overall storyline, which makes me wonder if maybe, just maybe, there will be a sequel volume of a sort. (I especially wanted to read the story of the man who spends hours alone in a Japanese love hotel and writes in the love hotel's diary, expressing his views on the heartbreak and joy that other patrons, and humans in general, all share.)

I'd read "In Between Dreams" in The Solaris Book of New Fantasy (which is included in this volume as well), and was at first very intrigued by Barzak's use and re-interpretation of Japanese myth in a contemporary (Japanese) urban setting. It helps, of course, that this particular story deals with the kitsune, or fox spirit, which is probably my favorite aspect of Japanese mythology. Barzak uses the kitsune in several of the stories, tying the stories together by playing off of the spirit's mischievous and rather untrustworthy cleverness. I was also very curious to see if The Love We Share Without Knowing delved into the past of the gay American character, Danny, who is trapped in a supernatural coma by his jealous Japanese lover, Kenji. To my delight, Danny got his very own story, though sadly Kenji's side of the tale remains untold.

Overall, I was very impressed with the collection, and I've been thinking about picking up Barzak's other book, One For Sorrow. I've also ordered a short story collection that happens to have one of Barzak's stories, but I haven't read it yet. (It's still in the mail, actually.) I'm looking forward to what else Christopher Barzak comes up with.

This Week's Books (And a New Author's Blog)

I've been on the hunt for Christopher Barzak's work since I came across his story in the Solaris Book of New Fantasy. I eventually found his blog, and realized only a few hours ago that he in fact has two books out (and is working on a third). His current releases include The Love We Share Without Knowing and One for Sorrow, both of which I plan on eventually adding to my collection. I swear neither of these books were listed a few months ago when I first searched for him!

Anyway, in the course of the last week (or so) I've bought or rescued a good ten or so books...not all of the books I ordered have come in, but I've listed them here anyway so I don't forget. And all of them are listed on LibraryThing, or will be shortly.

Today's Prize Find:

Charles Vess' Book of Ballads-

Rescue Cases:

Nigel Barley's Grave Matters-

Howard Engel's Lord High Executioner- I wish the cover shot were of higher quality. It's actually a pretty nice looking book. Um...sort of.

Larry Townsend's Run, Little Leather Boy- Sadly, there's no image available of this one.

Recent Purchases:

Samuel R. Delany's Dark Reflections and The Bridge of Lost Desire-

Jonathan Carroll's Bones of the Moon- (Which was actually also a rescue, come to think of it.)

Brian W. Aldiss' The Twinkling of an Eye: My Life as an Englishman- (Also somewhat of a rescue!)

Andrew J. Wilson's Nova Scotia: New Scottish Speculative Fiction- Sorry, no image available.

Bought, But Still Drifting Somewhere in the U.S. Postal System:

Ekaterina Sedia's Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy-

Theodora Goss' In the Forests of Forgetting-

Steve Berman's Wilde Stories 2008: The Best of the Year's Gay Speculative Fiction-

Delia Sherman's Interfictions:An Anthology of Interstitial Writing-

I was going to post a review of the new Trek movie, but I'm still running it over in my head, and at any rate I think I'll go back to see it again soon. I will say now that though I don't feel as if I can accept the film as truly canon, it is the most beautiful fanfiction ever written. Futher opinions will be forthcoming when I've come to grips with the movie.

Wolverine: Origins

I'm rather disappointed with the new Wolverine movie.

I haven't heard what other people have said about the film (other than the group I went to the release with, but we were all pretty much on the same page) so maybe someone out there had a slightly more positive experience...but I don't see how. I don't think there was a single aspect of the storyline that caught me off guard or made me think. Oh no- my friends and I were crowing about "ooh, that's *spoiler's* dad! I betcha it is!", "oh, that guy is so going to die" and "she's really a traitor! Five bucks says she turns on him!" and in every single case, we turned out to be right (sadly) except for the time I said "oh, the elevator is going to be empty when it arrives on the floor" and Deadpool (err...just Wade, actually. They weren't calling him Deadpool yet, I think) was still in plain view when the elevator landed. That may have been the only surprise in the entire movie- and I haven't even read the Origins comics, so it's not like I was cheating! (That also means I don't know how close the movie followed the comics, or indeed if they follow them at all, so don't take this review of the movie as a commentary on the comics.)

As if the transparent plot wasn't insult enough, the special effects wound up leaving the same acidic aftertaste in my mouth as the cheap-as-fuck special effects employed by none other than the SciFi (SyFy now) channel. Granted, they weren't as God-fucking-awful as the SciFi/SyFy effects are, but they were way below par for a movie with the kind of history and fanbase (and one would think with the funding!) usually associated with the X-Men movie franchise. Granted, this is a prequel, and we all know how much those suck, but I still find it difficult to believe no one somewhere along the line of production said to his friend "hmm...do Wolverine's claws look a bit... I don't know, flat? Unfinished, maybe?" because the first thing I thought when Wolvie unsheathed his newly-minted adamantium claws was "those look totally fucking fake", especially in the farmhouse bathroom scene where Wolvie examines his funky snow-white claws in excruciating detail. (Also- am I the only person who asked "when and how the hell did we wind up in Smallville?" when Wolvie showed up at that farmhouse? Seriously- what the fuck?) The explotions and most of the fighting was so-so in quality, pretty much what you'd expect in any typical action flick, though I really dug the one awesome scene torward the end when Sabertooth and Wolvie teamed up against a teleporting Deadpool (for reasons that I'm choosing now to spoil).

Gambit. Oh, for the love of God, why? I spent way too freaking long to see my dear Remy in a movie for THAT to be all I get. Weak accent, not a word of French, very little screen presence and 90% of his fighting techniques were annoying rather than awesome. And, to add insult to injury, he had normal eyes. That's right, not the infamous red-on-black- he had normal eyes. They glowed a wee bit when he used his powers (and only when he used his powers during a closeup), but generally he had normal pupils, normal irises, the whole works. I am PISSED. First they screw up Rogue, now they've gone off and screwed up Gambit, too.

Cheap cheap cheap fucking cheap.

On the plus side, I loved Ryan Renolds as Wade (for the all of five minutes he was actually on the screen), and Liev Schreiber's performance as Sabertooth was excellent- much, much better than the stuntman they had play his part in the X-Men films. And what's more is I've heard there's an extra scene at the end were Deadpool shows up, breaks the forth wall (his trademark in the comics) and shushes the audience, after his *spoilers!* decapitation in the film. Healing powers for the win! The scene I saw at the end of the credits in the particular theater I attended just showed Wolvie drinking at a Japanese bar and being mopey. *end of spoilers*

Bookstore Moment

So, I've always heard tales of people requesting odd books, getting titles wrong in strange ways, and in general getting literary information very, very mixed up, but I've never really had to deal with these bizarre mistakes myself.

Well, I guess I can't really say that anymore. Today I was shelving a stack of graphic novels (all very mediocre and cheap) when a woman walks up to me and asks if we have a book by "Alex Scrub".

"Alex Scrub"? Well, needless to say, I'm not familiar with the author, so I ask if she knows what "Alex Scrub" writes. I'm assuming young adult, but she doesn't seem to know- she's looking for the writer for her brother. Ok then, we'll go ask the computer. Let's see what books "Alex Scrub" has written so I can help her find them.

Well, an Amazon search for "Alex Scrub" doesn't turn up any hits, so she calls her brother to make sure she has the writer's name right.

"Alice"? Alice? Alice in Wonderland? Is she looking for a title, not an author?

"Oh, no, no, Atlas!" Atlas? What? "Atlas Shrugged! Do you have a book called Atlas Shrugged?"

"Upstairs in classic literature, ma'am. You'll see it first thing on your right. Have a good day."

Currently Reading

Just Finished-
The Orphan's Tales: Cities of Coin and Spice by Catherynne M. Valente

This was every bit what I was expecting and hoping it would be. The mystery of the orphan girl's origin finally comes clean in this volume, and the story was beautifully told and just as mesmerizing as the first. I think the first is still my favorite book of the two, but that's due mostly to the fact it surprised me. I went into the second book knowing what Valente was capable of, and boy-oh-boy did she deliver!

On Hold?-
Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh

I'm not totally sure why I seemed to have stopped reading this book. I was enjoying it, but I didn't really click with it, you know? I'll give it a week or two and try to pick it back up once this semester's over and I have a little more spare time and energy. (And did anyone else find that the book wasn't nearly as gross as its reputation implied? I was expecting to be disgusted and appalled through the whole thing, but so far there have only been two or three little moments where I went "ugh!")

Reading-
Trouble on Triton by Samuel R. Delany

Actually, I only started this one this morning, but I've been moving along at a good clip (except for the little break from reading I took, where I watched The Corpse Bride and cooked lunch) and I'm nearly as far along in Triton as I am in Mainspring. It's much harder reading than Mainspring, too- damn you, Delany, and your complicated scientific and philosophical passages that make me slow down, read, re-read, contemplate, and play connect-the-dots in my brain. This isn't easy for me to do first thing in the morning! Delany, if you weren't so damn good at it and totally worth the struggle, I'd hate you.

Mainspring by Jay Lake

I've waited how many months now to get my hands on a copy of this fucker? Too many, that's certain. I've read a few of Jay Lake's short stories and browsed his blog (livejournal? don't remember now) a time or two...and I've waited. And waited. And waited. Every time I saw a copy at B&N or Half-Price- not that I ever shop at bookstores other than the one I work in, of course- I'd talk myself out of buying it (I can't support the competition, right?) because eventually- EVENTUALLY- we'd get a copy at my job and I'd get my employee discount and all that jazz. In fact, a copy came in a few months ago- and my coworker (it's a good thing I like him!) snatched it up before I saw it! So I waited. And waited. And Waited. And lo and behold, what comes in last Saturday but my very own copy of Mainspring! I even did a little victory dance for the benefit of my coworkers (especially the one who nabbed the other copy!) and I bought the little fucker before I left that night. I win. (And the book's been pretty damn fun, too!)

Awaiting-
Dark Reflections by Samuel R. Delany

Yes, there are still some Delany books I don't own. And yes, that number keeps shrinking. This particular Delany book is somewhat semi-autobiographical in that the main character- a probable stand-in for the author- is a black, gay poet, as Delany was before he turned to science fiction (and then to 'literary' fiction...but whatever). The character's life is told in reverse- that is, he starts out as a succesful older man and as the story progresses, the reader is gradually introduced to him as his younger and more ambitious self. At least, that's what all of the reviews and summaries I've seen have said. I'll have the book by the end of the week, and then I'll know more.

Nova Scotia: New Scottish Speculative Fiction edited by Andrew J. Wilson

This was a 2006 finalist for the World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology, and holy hell but does it have a great line-up. Ken MacLeod, Jane Yolen, Charles Stoss, Neil Williamson, and seventeen others contributed to this collection, and I have no fucking clue as to how in the hell this thing is out of print. (Why? WHY?) After all, "forget, the Loch Ness monster, Brigadoon and all the usual tartanalia: Nova Scotia examines the Scotland of the 21st century and offers 22 unique insights on living in this New Scotland". And yeah, I totally stole that from the website.

New Additions to My Wish List-
The Secret History of Moscow by Ekaterina Sedia

My friend (the coworker who snagged that first copy of Mainspring, actually) swears by this woman's writing, and from what little I've seen I must say I'm excited. Hopefully I'll like her as much as my coworker does, which is frankly very possible.

In the Forest of Forgetting by Theodora Goss

This is a short story collection by a writer who I've read in Lady Churchill's (well, ok, I've only ever seen The Best of compilation), and every time I've fallen a little more in love with her work. Now that I've found a collection of her stories, I have to get it.

Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy edited by Ekaterina Sedia (not so new on my wish list, but it will probably be one of the next few things I order online)

Sedia again. This anthology contains works by Jay Lake, Hal Duncan, Anna Tambour, Forrest Aguirre, and Catherynne M. Valente, and I'm starting to see a trend in the authors whose short fiction I collect. Anyone else detect a trend?

There are a number of other anthologies that I've been eyeing, but I'm trying to keep my consumption level down for the time being. But just wait. They will be mine!

Kunoichi Says Hello

New (Online) Toy!

I recently joined LibraryThing.com, which allows users to keep an online record of their books (and allows for book voyeurs such as myself to peek at the shelves of other collectors without getting the cops called on us). Sadly enough, it's very entertaining, and you can check out the libraries of your friends and your favorite authors. I think there are even forums and such...though I've been so busy scoping out who has my favorite books that I haven't really paid much attention to those features. Neeways, my profile page is located at http://www.librarything.com/profile/bookjockey18 and I'd love to have company. Plus, I'm a book whore and I love to look at other people's shelves, and the more the merrier, right? Right.

Oh, and that shadow that's been hovering near your bookshelf... You know, the one behind you? It isn't what you think! I was just... Please don't call the cops...

(More) New Books

I was bad this week- I bought more books, even after my spending spree last week and after paying on my gigantic expensive layaway. I also adopted a few abandoned books from our donation closest at work, but that only makes up for it a little bit.

Anyway, this week's new acquisitions list contains-

Mainspring by Jay Lake

The Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny


The Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki Shikibu (though I prefer this edition, which I also own)

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (Norton Critical Edition)


The Eternal Champions Series, Volumes 1, 2, and 3 (The Eternal Champion, Von Bek, and Hawkmoon)

And, because I'm a loser who can't kick the deadly habit...

Han Solo's Revenge by Brian Daley (sorry, no accurate Amazon image)

The Trouble With Tribbles: The Birth, Death, Sale, and Final Production of One Episode by David Gerrold

The Search for Meaning in "American Beauty"

Throughout the film “American Beauty”, the audience watches as the characters argue, fight, cry, and seduce their way through life, seeking to understand what it all means and why sometimes life has to be so difficult. As friends, lovers, and family members, they use one another as scapegoats and as modes of escape to avoid dealing with life- or, perhaps, to deal with life in the only way they know how. Most of the characters are self-obsessed, materialistic, and insecure to the point of neurosis and are completely unable to connect with other people, or really even themselves.

Carolyn Burnham is one of the neediest, most insecure characters in the movie. She spends most of the film trying and failing to find some source of reassurance to offset the isolation she feels. She chants mantras to herself, promising that she will do one thing or she will not do another, though she can’t fool even herself into thinking she has a chance of following through and finding happiness. The only character Carolyn connects with for even a little while is the arrogant Buddy Kane, who winds up abandoning her when her husband discovers their affair. Kane is far more concerned about his professional appearance than his romantic entanglements, and he selfishly leaves Carolyn behind to deal with the mess their affair has created. On the other hand, Lester Burnham, Carolyn’s husband, is not terribly upset about his wife sleeping with another man. He has felt isolated from his unfeeling wife for quite some time, and in fact finds it liberating that Carolyn is no longer trying to bend him to her idea of what a proper family is. He takes his new freedom from his wife’s control and runs with it. He starts smoking pot, working out, and quits his white-collar job to flip burgers, all in order to relive the happiest time of his life- his teens. He then takes the hunt for his lost happiness and youth a step further and seduces (and allows himself to be seduced by) his daughter’s best friend, a terribly insecure ‘beauty’ named Angela. Angela, meanwhile, is using both Lester and his daughter Jane to fuel her own search for herself. She puts up a front of confidence and success, when really she’s a scared little girl who is desperate for a way to feel special and loved. Angela feeds off of Lester’s sexual attention and off of Jane’s ‘plainness’ in order to separate herself from the ‘ordinary’ people she sees every day. The arrival of Jane’s new boyfriend, Ricky, makes this increasingly difficult for her. He calls her out on her behavior, declaring that Angela was never actually Jane’s friend but was really using her to increase her own confidence. Ricky also sees through Angela’s pretentious disguise and says to her face he finds her boring and plain. Ricky is himself an odd character. He toys with the emotions of other characters on several occasions, from egging his father on into two unnecessary physical confrontations to exposing Angela’s cruel method of finding self-assurance. On the other hand, he seems to be the only relatively happy character in the movie. His obsession with filming ordinary and sometimes gruesome things stems not just from a morbid sense of curiosity, but also from a deep-seated appreciation of the beauty that exists in the everyday world. He alone has a sense of self-confidence, and doesn’t feel ‘exposed’ or ‘naked’- even when Jane is filming him when he is very much physically naked.

Ricky is, sadly, the only character in the movie with a perception of his own self-worth. The other characters spend the entire movie flitting from one argument to another as they try desperately to find their calling, their soul mate, or their place in the crazy world they live in. Like families and neighbors often do, these characters have formed tight relationships- or perhaps just loose ones- which enable them to find new ways of learning about themselves and each other in meaningful ways. Even the missteps and missed opportunities offer lessons in how human beings interact with one another and how those interactions change the way people see each other and themselves.

-----------
I wrote this one for a sociology class (Marriage and Family Relationships). Again, I had a two page limit, which I went over by just a tiny bit, once I put in the heading and everything. I'd never seen the movie before, and I've got to say- it's delightfully screwy.

Vintage: A Ghost Story by Steve Berman

Does this make the third post in a row that mentions Steve Berman? It does, it does! Berman gets a gold star!

So after spending the last two or three months waiting to come across a copy of any Berman book (I don't know why, but I had a huge aversion to ordering one used off of Amazon) I finally located a copy of Vintage: A Ghost Story. I've already complained in a previous post about how I feel about finding his YOUNG ADULT novel in the literature section- it's not that I don't feel young adult books can be literature, but rather that I have a horrible sneaking suspicion it was shelved among more 'adult' literature to avoid scandalizing anyone (parents, namely) since it is a gay ghost/love story. To make things worse, I found it there after hearing about the Amazonfail controversy. The whole thing just rubbed me the wrong way.

At any rate, I bought the book Friday night, started reading it Saturday morning, and had it finished by midnight Saturday. It's a fairly slim book and an easy read, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was a great book to help me recover from my hellish day at class and work- it's a very sweet love story between two boys (and between one boy and a ghost boy) that refrains from becoming too sappy and saccharine to stand. The main character and Mike, one of the main love interests, are simply too cute with one another, especially in the very early stages of their budding relationship when neither of them are too terribly sure of what is expected of them. I was not, however, too fond of Josh (the ghost and the main character's other potential love interest) and found him to be selfish and controlling. My reaction to him may be a complement though- I'm not totally sure Berman made him in order to be liked (or perhaps Josh just isn't my type). Forget the pig-headed jock, guys- the cute little artist boy is way, way better for you.

The story itself is fairly predictable. Goth boy meets ghost boy, falls in love, and realizes ghost boy may not be quite as good for his health as perhaps he'd like. Then goth boy meets (or actually realizes he's been there all along) the artistic little brother of his best friend, starts falling for him, and realizes that a relationship with a living person who can't kill you with a mere touch may be a much better thing overall. Did I mention this was a gay teen love story? In the 'grown-up' fiction section? Anyway. Cute, refreshing story, if a little simple.

What made the book was Berman's portrayal of what it's like to grow up gay in a small town. I'm not talking about all that coming-out, woe-is-me shit that every gay teen movie ever produced has tried to pass off as a tear-jerking story, I'm talking about how it feels to live in a constant state of anxiety and hope. Did that cute guy waiting on your table at dinner pay a little more attention to you than the diners in the next booth? Was that pretty girl looking at your shirt, or your...well, I'm sure we all have imaginations. Was that sharp look you got from the customer you just helped a disdainful glance because of your youth, or do they know and are they planning on waiting for you outside with a lynch mob? Maybe your parents know, maybe they don't, and wouldn't we all like to have an aunt like the main character's, who takes him in after he runs away from home and his angry parents? I have an aunt I like to think would have done so, if I had asked, and as a consequence whenever the character appeared in the book I pictured her as my own aunt.

The main character isn't ashamed of his sexuality- his reluctance to be open about his gayness stems rather from a fear of reprisal. He fears being attacked and targeted, though he doesn't at all feel that he deserves such treatment. The issue of being completely out in high school is also examined through one of Berman's lesbian characters- she's upfront about her sexual orientation from the start, and while she doesn't receive any shit about it from other characters she does unnerve the main character with her frankness. She lives on the edge of what he perceives as dangerous territory, and while he respects her for it and desires that level of honesty for himself he can't help but measure the costs against the benefits. His own experiences have taught him that other people don't always accept homosexuals- he told one student at his previous school about his sexual orientation, and within a week was turned into a victim of harassment and verbal assaults from a number of people in his community, including his own parents (every gay teen's worst fear- that Mom and Dad won't understand). At the same time, is slightly oddball aunt loves him no matter what he does or who he loves, and while she makes him agree to basic ground rules of behavior (his boyfriend is not allowed to spend the night- which is the same rule she would impose if he had a girlfriend instead) the rules are made in love, not for punishment. She parents and guides him, without trying to change something that is very integral to his nature.

Berman also explores teenage drug and alcohol use in a manner that neither vilifies nor glorifies getting drunk, huffing, or even trying out Ecstasy. That is to say he doesn't condemn kids for experimenting with things they really shouldn't experiment with, but he does look at the consequences of careless actions, from mild ones like hangovers to much more serious ones such as cheating on a partner while drunk or the tragedy of accidentally killing oneself while huffing. Parents probably wouldn't like this aspect of the book, but it's a more honest look at drugs and teenagers than the majority of young adult books I've seen would dare try. There are no scare tactics here, only a calm pointing out of the potential risks and an acknowledgement that kids will be kids, no matter what parents think.

I will be awaiting the next arrival of a Steve Berman book on my shelf now. He's edited several titles that intrigue me as well, and we all know what a whore I am for short story collections! I'll be sure to keep posting. (Also, my apologies if any of this isn't terribly logical. I'm rather tired at the moment and it's all I can do to keep my spelling somewhat accurate.)

New Arrivals

I went on a bit of a spending spree yesterday and came home with a few new books. Most importantly, I added to my Delany collection, and then I finally found a Steve Berman novel! It's amazing how hard it is to find his books around here. I can't believe Barnes & Noble actually had a copy, though I have a bit of a problem with how they had the book shelved in the general fiction section when the book explicity states "Young Adult" on the cover and is aimed at gay teen readers. After the Amazon fiasco last week (link is to Gaiman's journal on the subject), I'm not too pleased to see what could be construed as a form of censorship in my local B&N.

Anyway, on to the books.

Camp Concentration Thomas M. Disch


Vintage: A Ghost Story Steve Berman


Trouble on Triton: An Ambiguous Heterotopia Samuel R. Delany



Babel-17/ Empire Star Samuel R. Delany



Ode to Walt Whitman Fredrico Garcia Lorca


In Search of Duende Fredrico Garcia Lorca

Also, I just realized that every single one of these authors is (or was) gay. What does that say about the prominence of GLBT writers and titles, Amazon?

Upcoming Releases- 2009

So instead of reading or writing or really doing anything remotely productive, I spent the evening browsing Amazon and checking out upcoming releases by my favorite writers. I already have Anne Bishop's new book The Shadow Queen (which I'm not as pleased with as I had hoped, unfortunately) which snuck under my radar until I stumbled across a copy at Barnes & Noble. To keep this from happening again, I decided to compile a list here for books I'm gonna have to order A.S.A.P!

First off is Jeff Vandermeer's Booklife: Strategies and Survival Tips for the 21st Century Writer. Though I normally avoid books on writing like the plague on society they are, I think I'll have to break my own rules and check this one out. Vandermeer's non-fiction is, strangely enough, the reason I started reading him in the first place, and this book looks like it's going to deal with issues that actually are important for modern day writers including, as Amazon.com claims, "personal space versus public space, deadlines, and networking, [and] the benefits of interacting with readers through new technologies". This one is due out in October, so I've got a while to wait before I can get my hands on a copy.

China Mieville's new novel, The City & The City, is coming out this May. I'm fighting the urge to pre-order it...at least until it gets a little closer to the release date and my willpower breaks. I'm a little behind on my Mieville books, but this one looks pretty intriguing and I just might have to bump a few things down on my reading list to make room for it.

I was hoping to get a copy of Catherynne M. Valente's Palimpsest at one of my local bookstores, but once again I forgot how weak the fantasy sections in my Hastings and Barnes & Noble are. I'll be buying this one off of Amazon before long, I fear.

Neil Gaiman has another children's book (Crazy Hair) due out at the end of May. I already have a copy of his other new children's book, The Blueberry Girl, and I love it. Charles Vess' artwork is unbelievably beautiful in The Blueberry Girl, and I'm sure Dave McKean's illustrations in Crazy Hair will be as odd and wonderful as they always are.

Oddly enough (for me), I'm greatly tempted to read Drood by Dan Simmons. Like books on writing, I tend to avoid fiction about writers, but I think Simmons may be on to something with his novel about Charles Dickens and his last, unfinished manuscript, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Besides, this is one giant sucker of a freaking novel, which hopefully translates into plenty of reading entertainment for me!

I'm also looking out for a copy of Steve Berman's Mr. October's Naughty Bedside Reader, which doesn't have a release date yet, sadly. Like Valente, I'll probably have to order this one off Amazon, since my local bookstores don't know who he is, either (ugh! I need to have a chat with the people who pick stock. Whoever these Robert Jordan and R.A. Salvatore guys are, they need to quit taking up so much room on the store fantasy shelves!).