tried and erred

I always pay attention to new science fiction and fantasy (and to a lesser extent, horror) releases each year. The "speculative fiction" genre umbrella is the literary place I call home. This year, I'm going to attempt to not only keep up with the news but actually READ as many new titles as I can. I've had a good start in January, keeping up with most of the short fiction periodicals, but I haven't started any 2014 novels yet. I'm currently in the middle of Gunn's Transcendental (from last year) and Poe's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (from longer ago). Once I finish those two, I'm planning on dedicating most of my non-Libripox non-Simak reading to 2014 titles. Of course, I'll be happy if Ben agrees to a few 2014 sf titles for future Libripox picks.

2013 Music - Part One

I listened to a lot of contemporary music in 2013. Most of this was due to me discovering Spotify. I used Spotify Premium free off and on for four months and I liked it enough to pay for the service for two more months. I'm a bit sad that I'm letting the service expire tomorrow. I'm sure I'll be back.

I'm convinced that the best music of the year was not recorded. It was performed in someone's living room or backyard. It was sung by toddlers and grandmas. You probably heard it in your house. I know I heard it in mine.

Maybe even some of the best of the year was sung by frog-throated men like me, off-key celebrations of Mad Maudlin, moonshine, and mercy. Every time I open my own mouth to croak out a song, it means more than all the commercial music rolling down the spotify stream. I learned of Pete Seeger's death today. That's one lesson that I learned from him, that the only way you own music is by singing it yourself.

Even so, I do love me some pop music. Indie music. Folk. Country. Punk. Prog. Hiphop. Whatnot. I'm a pop culture creature.

This Spotify playlist is not a list of my favorite songs of the year. It's not what I think the best songs of the year are. It's a rough sketch, a representative sample, of what my year in music was like. The first two songs aren't from 2013 (and the last track isn't even close), but the rest of the songs were all released in 2013. I could qualify this list a thousand ways, mentioning that some of the artists on the list aren't even acts that I like and that others are folks that I've listened to over and over again and don't think I can exhaust my appreciation for. But I won't tell you which are which. I could grumble about Bandcamp artists that I couldn't add to a Spotify playlist. I could tell you that I listened to certain albums dozens of times but now can't hardly stand to listen to them. And on and on. Whatever. I like this playlist. It sounds like 2013 to me. I hope you like it, too.

SF Academy

As he guessed, I am happy to know that Jeff will be taking a Science Fiction class.

Here's the reading list for his class:

H.G. Wells, War of the Worlds
Yevgeny Zamyatin, We
Isaac Asimov, I Robot
Ursula Le Guin, The Dispossessed
Greg Bear, Blood Music
Kim Stanley Robinson, Red Mars
William Gibson, Neuromancer
Vernor Vinge, Rainbow's End
Paulo Bacigalupi, The Windup Girl
China Mieville, The City and The City
Philip K. Dick, Dr. Bloodmoney
Charles Yu, How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe
Ben Bova, Mars

Of that list, I've fully read two titles. So much for my sf cred. It just went down the automated waste receptacle. Oh well. That won't stop me from commenting on the above titles.

The two I've read are War of the Worlds and Red Mars. You've probably heard Welles' radio adaption of War. If not, stop reading this now and give it a listen. I don't remember much of the book itself besides thinking as a child that Welles was telling an incredible story in the most boring way possible. I don't know if that is fair or not. I should re-read it as an adult.

I read Red Mars when it first came out in paperback, either late 1993 or mid-1994, I guess. 20 years ago! It was the first really "hard" science fiction book that I ever read ("hard sf" being sf that stresses detailed scientific realism). The science in it is serious and it convinced me that terraforming Mars would be completely crazy and also completely possible. I liked it enough to read Green Mars the following year. I never did read Blue Mars.

We has always interested me. I couldn't find a copy back in the dark ages when I had to rely on finding copies of books in physical stores.

I've read a handful of Asimov's robot stories but I haven't read any of his collections. I'm pretty sure that I, Robot is just a collection of some of the Astounding stories, right?

Growing up, I knew Le Guin as the Earthsea author. At the time, I didn't realize that she was a critical darling and mostly known for The Dispossessed and Left Hand of Darkness. I've never really liked any of the short fiction I've read by her and never tried any of the novels.

I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of Bear's Blood Music. I recently read Bear's original novelette that the novel was expanded from. I thought that it worked incredibly well at that length. It's definitely science fiction but its impact is the impact of horror. I can't imagine how Bear expands it out to novel length without sacrificing its succinct gut punch.

Gibson's Neuromancer is the one on the list that I'm most ashamed to have never read. I grew up in the midst of the cyberpunk "movement" but I was only dimly aware that it was going on. My experience of the genre was largely one of discovering older writers like Heinlein and Sturgeon and Silverberg while my contemporary reading often skewed more toward the (epic) fantastic.

Vinge is a writer I only know by reputation. I'm pretty sure that his work was relatively early in jumping on the singularity bandwagon.

I like Bacigalupi. I've only read a couple of his stories as they were published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (or maybe Asimov's) throughout the Aughts (I think they're all collected in Pump Six now). His stories are dark and depressing and truly relevant. He's one of the few writers I'm aware of who has thought through some of our insane contemporary agri-biz practices and tried to show how much worse things could get if we continue down the same road. Paul di Fillippo just wrote a funny/loving parody of Bacigalupi in the most recent F&SF.... http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/2014/pdf1401.htm

I've heard nothing but good things about China Mieville. And I haven't read any of his books.

Dr. Bloodmoney is a strange Dick choice. I haven't read it, though, so I don't know. Maybe it fits in well with the rest of the choices. I remember seeing it mentioned somewhere else recently, too. Maybe it's lesser Dick that is finally getting its moment. I'll definitely check it out, maybe this year.

I avoided the Yu when it came out because it looked too cute.

I've read some of Bova's Analog columns in a collection a while back but I haven't read any of his fiction. I think that Mars is his most recent, right?

Overall, it looks like a decent list of books. I'd want to take this class!

That said, I do wonder what the stated goals of the class are. The above titles are a decent representative sample of novels treating various major issues (alien invasion, artificial intelligence, ecology, microbiology gone awry, massive terraforming, etc). This isn't a survey course because most of these titles are from the last 30 years. I don't know if the above titles will be supplemented with any short fiction. I sure hope so. Science fiction is at its best in short form. Science fiction, more than almost any other genre or area of literature, has kept alive the novella and the novellette as vibrant and necessary forms of lit.

I might try coming up with my own alternative "master's level" sf course. It would be highly idiosyncratic and not at all better than the above list.

I do hope, Jeff, that you'll get me a copy of the syllabus. Besides short fiction, I'm curious to see if there will be any assigned non-fiction readings. And I'm curious about what sort of papers will be required.

Somewhat related, I've been seriously considering buying a "supporting membership" to next year's WorldCon. It's a silly thing, but I've wanted to vote for the Hugos since I was 10 or so. I've already started off this year by reading about ten stories from places like The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Tor.com, and Subterranean (and I'll get to Strange Horizons and Asimov's soon and maybe even Analog though it may be a lost cause). I'm going to try to keep up with 2014 fiction and cast my small vote next year. I'm pretty sure that my little vote will mean next to nothing. Still, I plan on enjoying keeping records and making a ballot. Maybe this enthusiasm won't last. Maybe it's all just mad rambling and crazy thinking brought on by the nearness of a new year. I like to think that this will be the year that I wreck the Hugo.

Hear the Word

(I wrote this last week and forgot to post it. I'm planning on responding to Brandon soon but not today)

One of my yearly reading goals is to read the entire Bible through from cover to cover. That's in addition to studying certain books (of the Bible) more in-depth. This is something I enjoy doing. And it is without a doubt the most important and rewarding reading I do all year.

Last year, I failed to read the entire Bible, but I spent a lot of time in certain books.

The year before, I read through almost twice.

Years before that were dark ages of trying and failing. With some success. More failures.

This year, I've decided that my goal is to read through the Bible four times (!) before the year is over.

Read should be "read."

Because, really, a lot of that "reading" will be listening.

Audio technology is great in this regard, especially considering that the Bible was written to be read aloud (in community) and HEARD. “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

In the past, I've listened to Alexander Scourby (just picture him as a noir villain while listening) read the KJV.

Yesterday, I was thrilled to find a FREE audio version of the ESV available for download. So far, the reader is excellent. And, of course, the translation is excellent, my favorite modern translation. At the site, you need to sign up for an e-mail newsletter to get the download but the email newsletter is easy to cancel after you've signed up.

It's available as both mp3 and m4b.

Free ESV Hear the Word Audio Bible

Enough WoWS

Standard Definition of Prostitute

a person, typically a woman, who engages in sexual activity for payment.

By agreeing that you'd be upset if your wife engaged in WoWS behavior, you have conceded my point that the "simulated" activity on display in WoWS is real sexual activity. I don't care if you try to get out of this by declaring a different standard of behavior for actors. That's a cheat. Thus, objectively, according to the standard definition of prostitute, I think that it's entirely fair for me to refer to the actresses in the film as prostitutes, women who have engaged in sexual activity for payment.

I might respond more later. I'm probably done. I'm already exhausted by all of this conversation. I don't like that WoWS forces me to be crass in order to interact with its own crassness. You're right that my example was not at all classy, it was obscene. But how else does one interact with the obscenity of WoWS if one does not translate its obscenity into familiar terms to make its blatant moral failures more real to someone such as yourself who loves the film? By loving WoWS, you are loving the thrill of each display of perversity. Or what? You are loving being "uncomfortable" by such diplays?

One thing I'd like to respond to is the "double standard." Everything I've said about WoWS applies to other films. The thing is that other films have this content to such a lesser extent that it's easier (not necessarily correct) to forgive or overlook this content while looking at the whole and saying what is good about the whole. In WoWS, this behavior (almost) constitutes the whole and becomes overbearing, something that, for better or worse, must be reckoned with in the forefront of all conversation about the film.

It was a good time saying goodbye to Ben by getting in a few games. It was over games that we met. I know I speak for myself and I think I can speak for Ben in saying that good games played with good friends provide great joy. There's something about getting lost in play and the mental agility that must accompany it that satisfies me in a way that nothing else does in the same way.

More WoWS

This was supposed to be a quick response to Brandon while waiting for Ben to arrive at my place for some gaming. He hasn't shown up yet so this turned into a looooonger response.

WoWS

I bought a new journal. From now on, I'll probably write things out longhand, "vomiting" ideas onto a page. Usually this would mean that I'd clean these rough drafts up and polish them for presenting to others. But I'm not going to do that. I'm just going to type up what I've got. You'll all have to be happy with my rambling rough notes. Hopefully, this will keep me writing. It's silly for me to worry about appearing professional anyhow, when I know that there's only a handful of people reading this. I'm not trying to write a monograph. I'm only trying to be part of a conversation.

And all apologies to Mr. Scorsese. I am not on good enough terms with you to keep referring to you as "Marty" yet I keep doing it.

Vile.

It's hard to determine what Scorsese is trying to achieve with TWoWS. It is definitely a comedy. But I deny that it works as satire.

WoWS is best described as a romp.

It is playful and it is celebratory. It winks a lot. What could be played as horrific gets played as slapstick (the Lemmon's --> Popeye sequence).

Unfortunately, the material is depraved and disgusting. Jordan Belfort, the Wolf, should not be celebrated. So, why, Scorsese, why?

I think that Marty is attracted to alternative societies/families that provide shelter and a reason for living apart from the rule of law at times when the rule of law has failed or hasn't adequately protected people in the sense that it hasn't given them a realm in which to flourish. Belfort operates outside of the law because the arbitrary financial laws that do exist serve those already in power.

Belfort's sin isn't that he manipulated stocks or tricked people out of their money. His sin is idolatry. He serves Mammon. He is a High Priest in the Courts of Mammon.

This brings along with it cultic rituals involving ritual sex and prolonged altered states of consciousness. And this, I think, is Marty's weakness. Not content to suggest something, like his best Code-era forebears, Scorsese hires all of the prostitutes he can find (women paid to get naked and simulate sex acts) and puts them on display for an audience to hoot and holler at.

The craft is superb and there is plenty in the film to chew on, but who is the audience loving and re-watching this beast? Frat boy business majors playing it on loop behind the beer pong table.

The wife-punching scene IS too little too late. Belfort is not after his child. He's after his pride. Luckily, we know he can buy a new wife if he puts enough work into it. Belfort's bootstrap ingenuity is praised to the end. His empire crumbles because of outside forces, never because he screwed up. It's always someone else's fault. It will always be someone else's fault.

Also worth noting is that Belfort not only serves a false god, he is a false god.  As the Prophet of Mammon, he speaks and wealth is created. Belfort creates a miniature world unto himself using nothing but his voice.

In the beginning was the Wolf, and the Wolf was with Mammon, and the Wolf was Mammon.

Belfort, even after his multiple "Falls", remains the man who shapes reality with his words, continuing to sucker people out of their money. This time it was me, shelling out the dough at the Temple of Cinema, that dread House of Worship that caters to the narrative whims of anyone willing to submit themselves to darkness in the hopes of catching a flickering light. This time, I only had to sacrifice my conscience at the door to spend three hours at the feet of a Wolf.

Why did I go see WoWS? Brandon had already warned me that it was "worse than Spring Breakers". He also said that he loved it. I wanted to love what Brandon loved. And if I couldn't, then I wanted to hate what Brandon loved. I wanted to be the one to tear apart WoWS, to point out its flaws, to show why and how it failed.

But I see now that I was wrong-headed. I'm not sure that there is anything that I can write that will change the exultant thrill you get at the way Marty tells this story.

At the end, I don't know what to write, except: Shame on you. Shame on me. Shame on Martin Scorsese and the entire cast and crew. WoWS, for all of its technical brilliance, belongs in the trash. To the degree that it is enjoyable, it is execrable.

All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.

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And here's my response to Jeff's review:

Wild Shoggoth

Some quickly jotted down thoughts after finishing Madness...

At the Mountains of Madness works surprisingly well as SF rather than horror or fantasy or weird tale, though it is all of those things.

The focus is heavily on the science (as Lovecraft understood it, of course) and on reason and on the limits of the same when our faculties are challenged and our certainties are undermined.

After reading At the Mountains of Madness, I'm not sure whether Lovecraft has any room for the "supernatural" at all. Lovecraft's project seems to be a naturalizing of "myth" by plugging it into an evolutionary/materialist framework (another kind of "myth").

The way that Lovecraft does this is to introduce "natural" creatures that are more strange and frightening than we are accustomed to, hopefully shocking us into an openness to "cosmic fear". There is something more strange and wonderful and downright scary to the fabric of the world. I'm not sure yet what to make of the narrator's claim that he is writing to prevent others from experiencing the horror of the Antarctic. Is it such that in Lovecraft's horrid world, it is better to remain ignorant than to embrace truth?

I'd rather be eaten by a wild shoggoth.

A YEAR OF LIBRIPOX AND OTHER PLEASURES: WHAT I READ IN 2013

2013 saw the continuation of the joke of a book club that is Ben and I. 2013 also saw the creation of the Simak book club that is Fred and I. Maybe I'll create another club in 2014 that attracts one other active member.

This was the second year that I kept decent reading records.

Top 5 Fiction Books Read This Year:

1. Treasure Island
2. The Hobbit
3. Burning Bright: Stories
4. The Busconductor Hines
5. The Year's Best Science Fiction: First Annual Collection

Top 5 Nonfiction Books Read This Year:

1. Life Together
2. What is Biblical Theology?
3. Slow Reading in a Hurried Age
4. Outland
5. Shaming the Devil

Stats:

70 books...

# read as eBooks: 3

# "read" as audiobooks: 4

# "graphic novels": 27

Favorite (new to me) Fiction Book Read: The Busconductor Hines by James Kelman

Favorite (previously read) Fiction Book Read: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Favorite Fiction Book published in 2013: Carmen by Prosper Merimee (new translation by MHB)

Favorite (new to me) Non-Fiction Book Read: What is Biblical Theology by James M. Hamilton, Jr.

Favorite (previously read) Non-Fiction Book Read: n/a

Favorite Non-Fiction Book published in 2013: Slow Reading in a Hurried Age by David Mikics

Favorite Graphic Novel Read: One Piece, Vol 1

Favorite Graphic Novel published in 2013: The Unwritten: The Wound

Complete list of titles read in 2013 (excluding children's books) is as follows:

Year of the Love-Beast.