Playing Catch-Up

So, blogging time seems to be rather difficult to come by even when I'm not caught up in a whirlwind of school- and work-related chaos. I've been offline for about a month now, actually, just trying to catch up with myself and my household to-do list. Well, today I'm house (and dog) sitting for some friends, and I'm taking the opportunity to post a little something here, just to prove that I'm still around and in the game.

Shamefully, though I was so excited about the Outer Alliance's formation back in September, I haven't really been active on the site at all. However, every time I manage to drop by they have something cool posted. Every Friday sees another GLBT writer spotlighted on the site, and I'm not on nearly often enough to keep up. How do they find these people? I suppose the internet really has made the world a smaller place (though sometimes I get the feeling that everybody interesting lives on one of the coasts or another country all together. The pickings seem a bit slim in this region...)

I recently finished Richard K. Morgan's fantasy novel The Steel Remains, and I hope to pick up one of his earlier SF books before too long. The Steel Remains is an excellent, violent, bloody, and actually pretty funny book featuring a gay warrior who makes no apology for his queerness. It's a welcome change from the flouncy fag best friend/sidekick who dies halfway through the story. I like seeing a gay guy beat the crap out of somebody else for once. The book is by no means perfect, but if you're in the mood for a fun, rough-and-tumble fantasy that maybe happens to include one or two very interesting sex scenes (very well done, coming from a straight man!) then The Steel Remains is definitely for you.

I'm in the midst of reading Adam Robert's Science Fiction and China Mieville's The Scar. The Adam Roberts title comes from a series of literary criticism works, the New Critical Idiom. From what I've heard and from my experience with the series, it's a pretty magnificent collection and well worth the effort of tracking the individual books down. I'd like to get my hands on a few other volumes, such as Magic(al) Realism, Myth, Gothic, Postmodern, and possibly Genre, just because. All of them would be cool to have though, since there's such a high quality of scholarship that goes into each volume. Roberts' book covers the basic history of science fiction and takes a stab at defining the genre, which is something I think has been turning up more and more lately on blogs with much higher traffic than this one can expect (such as Hal Duncan's column on BSCReview). Also, Roberts looks at the role of women and race in SF (using Star Trek and Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness as case studies, so what's not to like?) and also examines the use of technology. I haven't read this last segment yet, and I was honestly a little surprised to see it included, though upon further thought it seems obvious. After all, what would science fiction be without science? My surprise is based mostly on the fact that I simply take science for granted and accept it in whatever role it is presented in, though one of my biggest gripes with the latest Star Trek movie is its misuse of (disregard for) science. But more about that later- it'll be a whole other blog post. I'll probably write more about Roberts' book when I finish it. So far it's been an education and a joy to read, and it's only made me want to read his novel Salt even more than I already did.

Mieville's book The Scar has also been an intriguing adventure. I love his city made of ships- but then his settings always astound me. This book maybe isn't as good as The City and the City but so far it's a worthy follow-up to Perdido Street Station. I'll be reading his YA novel Un Lun Dun before too much longer, and I'll also pick up the leather bound copy of King Rat from the bookstore I work at. It is...very pretty. This guy pretty much rocks everything he tries his hand at.

I'll compile my best-of-2009 list before too long. I may extend it to include more categories than I did last year- perhaps a separate YA category, maybe a non-fiction thing. I already pretty much know what's going to be on the list, I just have to make a few last decisions.

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.

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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.

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.

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.)