(1) BIG PLANET. New evidence suggests a ninth planet is lurking at the edge of the solar system.
Astronomers at the California Institute of Technology announced Wednesday that they have found new evidence of a giant icy planet lurking in the darkness of our solar system far beyond the orbit of Pluto. They are calling it “Planet Nine.”
Their paper, published in the Astronomical Journal, describes the planet as about five to 10 times as massive as the Earth. But the authors, astronomers Michael Brown and Konstantin Batygin, have not observed the planet directly.
Instead, they have inferred its existence from the motion of recently discovered dwarf planets and other small objects in the outer solar system. Those smaller bodies have orbits that appear to be influenced by the gravity of a hidden planet – a “massive perturber.” The astronomers suggest it might have been flung into deep space long ago by the gravitational force of Jupiter or Saturn.
Accompanying the Post article is a short video with the delightfully hideous title “Planet Nine from outer space.”
(2) IN WORDS OF MORE THAN ONE SYLLABLE. Read the paper here.
3. ANALYTICAL THEORY
Generally speaking, coherent dynamical structures in particle disks can either be sustained by self-gravity (Tremaine 1998; Touma et al. 2009) or by gravitational shepherding facilitated by an extrinsic perturber (Goldreich & Tremaine 1982; Chiang et al. 2009). As already argued above, the current mass of the Kuiper Belt is likely insufficient for self-gravity to play an appreciable role in its dynamical evolution. This leaves the latter option as the more feasible alternative. Consequently, here we hypothesize that the observed structure of the Kuiper Belt is maintained by a gravitationally bound perturber in the solar system.
(3) WORLDCON LODGING. MidAmeriCon II hotel reservations open January 25.
Heads up ! Hotel booking confirmed open from Monday 25th ???? watch this space for more linky previews over the weekend https://t.co/WdoBTjJ0Ml
— MidAmeriCon II (@MidAmeriCon2) January 20, 2016
(4) FAKING IT. According to The Digital Reader, the “Number One Book Brits Pretend to Have Read is 1984, But for Americans, It’s Pride and Prejudice”.
A recent survey of 2,000 Brits has revealed that 62% of respondents had pretended to have read one book or another in order to appear smart. The top ten books that people pretend to have read are an impressive list of books, with Orwell’s 1984 and War and Peace taking the top 2 spots.
Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien is sixth.
(5) HARLAN SAVES. Elon Musk described the influence of Harlan Ellison on his thinking during this interview. The reference comes at about 13:20 into the video.
It’s possible that Harlan will save the human race. Elon has funded research on A. I.’s with the idea that when they emerge that they will be friendly to us humans. “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” frightened Elon enough to get him to fund the research therefore, if that research helps avoid an unfriendly A. I., then Harlan saved all of us
In the second part of this interview, Elon Musk talks about Artificial Intelligence and the deep concerns its causing him. But first he talks about Tesla building an affordable car, Apple’ rumoured electric vehicle and the future of autonomous driving.
(6) REMEMBERING HARTWELL. Dozens of deeply moving and historically fascinating tributes to David G. Hartwell are appearing at this hour. Representative is Michael Swanwick’s memorial:
I was in Chicago a couple of years ago for Gene Wolfe’s induction into the literary hall of fame there when the phone rang and David Hartwell said, “I’m sitting in Fred Pohl’s kitchen with him, going through J. K. Klein’s photos, looking for pictures of old time writers. Do you want to join us?” You bet I did. I think back to that brief call and I can hear him grinning. The joy in his voice was infectious. That was the key to David G. Hartwell: he loved science fiction, he loved work, he loved making worthwhile things happen….
(7) SARTORIAL SPLENDOR. Here’s the David G. Hartwell Necktie Exhibit that celebrates his garish neckties.
(8) VIEW TIPTREE SYMPOSIUM. The first in a series of videos from December’s James Tiptree, Jr. Symposium at the University of Oregon is now online.
It shows Professor, Carol Stabile convening the symposium, welcome remarks by UO Dean of Libraries, Adriene Lim and Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, Doug Blandy, and the keynote talk by Tiptree biographer Julie Phillips, followed by Q&A.
(9) LIVED EXPERIENCE. Sarah A. Hoyt pays it forward in a column of mentoring for indie and other fledgling writers. In a few places I was nodding my head, especially section 3.
However, with the proliferation of indie, I’m seeing a lot more kid writers running around the net (and conferences) with their metaphorical pants around their metaphorical ankles and fingerpainting the walls in shades of brown.
I would hate for that to happen to one of mine, even if just one who follows my lessons here or over at PJM and as such, I’d like to at least ward off some of the worst behavior….
3- Speaking of marking you as a newbie:
Just a few years ago, I realized either a lot of people were naming their kids Author, Writer or Novelist, or the newbies in my field had got off their collective rocker.
This used to be advice given to us before social media: don’t put writer on your card. If you’re doing it right, they’ll remember that.
I guess it’s more needful than ever for people’s egos to affirm their real writerness (totally a word) now that there are no gatekeepers.
Look, the way to affirm you’re a writer is to write, and to take it seriously. Putting “writer” or novelist, or author on your card, your facebook page or your blog isn’t going to make you any more “real” than you are.
But Sarah, you’ll say, how will people know it’s me, and not another Jane Smith?
Well, if they’re looking for you, they’ll know.They’ll know because of your friends, your place of origin, the stuff you post. Fans are amazing that way.
(10) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY BOY
- January 20, 1920 – DeForest Kelley.
- January 20, 1930 — Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, the second man to set foot on the moon.
(11) SHOW HIM THE MONEY. Stephen Harper Piziks on Book View Café doesn’t work for free anymore.
“We just don’t have the money to pay you,” say the moochers. “We’re barely making our other expenses as it is. Even our president is a volunteer!”
Then maybe you should charge more for admission. Or get some sponsors. Or just realize that you can’t have speakers at such a low-budget event.
“But you’ll get exposure,” goes more whining.
Tell you what. You talk to the grocery store, the electric company, and the mortgage people and get them to accept exposure instead of cash, and I’ll speak for exposure.
I once showed up at a local convention where I’d been scheduled to speak on five panels (that’s five hours of public speaking) and was informed that I owed =them= $30 to cover my admission. It was only when I turned to walk out that they grudgingly allowed me free entry. Later, the con chair denigrated me by name on Twitter. I thanked him for the exposure.
And that brings me to final reason I charge. No one, including event organizers, values something they get for free. You get what you pay for, and an author who speaks for nothing is worth nothing. Certainly they’re treated that way. At festivals and conventions where I spoke for free, I’ve been ignored, pushed around, insulted, and denigrated. This has never happened at places that paid me.
(12) THE SECRET OF TIMING. Vox Day, while reporting this morning that David G. Hartwell was not expected to recover, identified him as part of this history:
Hartwell was John C. Wright’s editor at Tor Books; he was also friendlier to the Puppies than any of the SF-SJWs are likely to believe. I had the privilege of speaking with him when he called me last year after the Rabid Puppies overturned the SF applecart; he was the previously unnamed individual who explained the unusual structure of Tor Books to me, using the analogy of a medieval realm with separate and independent duchies. He wanted to avoid cultural war in science fiction even though he clearly understood that it appeared to be unavoidable; it was out of respect for him that I initially tried to make a distinction between Tor Books and the Making Light SJWs before Irene Gallo and Tom Doherty rendered that moot.
(13) IT’S A THEORY. Scholars told the BBC why they believe some fairy tales originated thousands of years ago.
Using techniques normally employed by biologists, academics studied links between stories from around the world and found some had prehistoric roots.
They found some tales were older than the earliest literary records, with one dating back to the Bronze Age.
The stories had been thought to date back to the 16th and 17th Centuries.
Durham University anthropologist Dr Jamie Tehrani, said Jack and the Beanstalk was rooted in a group of stories classified as The Boy Who Stole Ogre’s Treasure, and could be traced back to when Eastern and Western Indo-European languages split more than 5,000 years ago.
Analysis showed Beauty And The Beast and Rumpelstiltskin to be about 4,000 years old.
[Thanks to Gary Farber, Will R., and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day JJ.]
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Today’s book arrivals:
Gardenias Where There Are None, by Molleen Zanger. I liked The Year Seven, this seems to be her other book.
All Our Pretty Songs, by Sarah McCarry. This was recommended to me by … someone. Maybe here on file770?
Castle Hangnail, by Ursula Vernon. I had to get this one as an import from the U.S., and the package has clearly been searched by customs. I am intrigued to find out what kind of dangerous and inflammatory material merits such precautions!
I have read all the books on the 2 lists except Moby-Dick, Infinite Jest, and 50 Shades. I think I’m probably a member of the large minority that hasn’t claimed to have read books they haven’t read, though I may have made some such claim at some insecure moment when I was young.
David Hartwell was little more than a name to me. I’m very impressed by the tributes and stories about him I’ve read in the last couple of days. It sounds like a major loss.
People would want something other than the Tardis? Weird.
Russian novels are a big hole in my reading history. Haven’t read War and Peace , although I tried and failed after seeing Charlie Brown try and read it in a Peanuts special. I haven’t read Crime and Punishment either (which I recall was the “next” book poor Charlie Brown had to read next at the end of that special.
@Nick I didn’t take the Tardis off the table, and it got mentioned, but its a time and space ship, not just a spaceship. I think people understood my question that more purely spacecraft spacecraft were what I was looking for.
I’d let “Justice of Toren” captain me in a heart beat!
Please?
When I’m shopping for spaceships, the things I look for are speed, security, and comfort.
E.E. “Doc” Smith’s Skylark of Valeron rates pretty well on all of those, I’ve always thought. (I admit, parking can be a problem.)
I asked a few genre people about what spaceship they’d want to borrow or captain, excepting the Firefly and the ‘Falcon
I want Sagan’s ship of the imagination from Cosmos.
@Kyra: “Castle Hangnail, by Ursula Vernon. I had to get this one as an import from the U.S., and the package has clearly been searched by customs. I am intrigued to find out what kind of dangerous and inflammatory material merits such precautions!”
I assume they were looking for dice.
Bracket dice.
@Paul Which spaceship: As a musician my choices would be Justice of Toren or Helva.
THE SECRET OF TIMING If anybody trusts Theodore Beale to tell the truth about anything at this point it’s probably time they reconsidered. I am sure he finds it convenient to claim something about David Hartwell; I don’t particularly care what it is.
LIVED EXPERIENCE To hear a Puppy leader talking about newbie writers running around showing –parts of themselves they shouldn’t–on the internet… Dang it; I just got this irony meter! I need to install some sort of Puppy-fuse.
IT’S A THEORY I’m looking forward to learning more about the fairy tales, but I think the right word for this may be “hypothesis.”
From the UK list I’ve only read 1984 and Catcher in the Rye. From the US list I can add Harry Potter as far as book 4 (I lost interest before 5 came out), and I’ve read bits of the Bible (impossible to avoid when you’re raised Catholic) and a couple of chapters of Ulysses (We had a Joyce primer book on the school syllabus which covered a selection of short stories and exerpts from his novels)
Hmm, for spaceships, I tend to go with:
Speed: FTL capable
Crew Complement: Small to Middling (~10)
Reliability: Rustbucket
Personality: Friendly, somewhat snarky
Technological Plausibility: Largely nonsensical
Suggestions?
@Joe H.
I think you just broke my brain. I am scared to click on it.
[ticky]
@Paul
OK, if Time and Space ships are off the table I’ll have something from the CUlture, but might need to re-read several books to decide a specific Mind to crew it.
Heart of Gold? It would be kinda trippy.
(4) In the first list, I haven’t read nos. 5, 8, 9, or 10. For #2, I read everything that was a novel, and when it suddenly became something else, I sort of turned the last hundred pages with my eyes attempting to focus and failing. #4, I read grudgingly, wanting to thump the narrator a good one. #6, I’ve read a couple of times. #7, I’ve read more times than I can recall easily. I swear I will get around to reading #9. I read for enjoyment, except #4. I don’t know why the hell I read that.
In the second list, I’ve started #2, and it sits uncomplete in a virtual shelf in one of my e-readers. #3, I read half of and will really finish some day. Nos. 5, 8, 9, 11, 14, 15, 16, and 17, I’ve never really intended to read, though I may give #16 a shot one of these days. If I want to pretend I’ve read a book, I’ll opt for Frederick R. Ewing’s I, Libertine. At least until I find a copy.
That’s two paragraphs that nobody will read, and who can blame them? Self-aggrandizing listmaking and justification, all of it. I used numbers instead of titles so it would be over quicker and easier to skip.
(1) They should call the big planet Ego. Kirby reference. (Moved this to the end so there’d at least be something to read after all that.)
For the second list, I’ve read them all, except:
Ulysses by James Joyce
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James (ew …)
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
I’m bad at Russians, what can I say? And I too got to Austen through Heyer; I still reread the Heyers because Austen wrote fewer than 10 novels.
Will definitely give the Tiptree videos a look; I admire her and LeGuin very much.
(4) On the first list I’ve read 1984, Great Expectations, Catcher in the Rye, Lord of the Rings, To Kill a Mockingbird, Crime and Punishment, and Pride and Prejudice. I missed the other ones.
On the second list, I also read Moby-Dick, The Great Gatsby, Catch-22, Wuthering Heights, and the Harry Potter series.
(12) The most noticeable thing about that excerpt is how quickly it degenerates into incoherent word salad. That’s about par for the course of VD, but it is always interesting to see his incoherent ranting on display.
1984 and To Kill A Mockingbird were high school requirements. I enjoyed them more a couple decades later when I re-read them. I would toss Fahrenheit 451 onto the pile as the third novel of the dystopian triumvirate from school days.
The Harry Potter books were also a fun read. Rowling’s ability to simultaneously write for kids and adults is impressive.
And of course, LOTR many, many times!
Regards,
Dann
I’ve read the bolded titles:
1984 by George Orwell – 26%
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy – 19%
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens – 18%
Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger – 15%
A Passage to India by E M Forster – 12%
Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkein – 11%
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee – 10%
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky – 8%
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen – 8%
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë – 5%
I don’t recall ever having claimed to have read the others.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (85 mentions)
Ulysses by James Joyce
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
The Bible
1984 by George Orwell
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Harry Potter (series) by J.K. Rowling
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
I’ve tried and bounced off some of the not-read ones, but Fifty Shades? I think they’re overlooking the most likely reason to pretend to have read something you haven’t: To stop people from harassing you to read what investigation proves is likely to detract from, rather than add to, one’s life.
The thing about fairy tales and their age is interesting. I’ll have to read the original paper at some point, which should be possible because it was published for free rather than behind a paywall.
Any FTL (or fast sublight) ship is necessarily going to be a time and space ship
@Lis Carey
I definitely see a point to that – enough female friends of mine have admitted to me that they claimed to have read 50 shades because they could fend of the suggestions that they try it, and then say that it was not for them. Considering how problematic that book can be, I can see why they did that.
Kyra on January 21, 2016 at 6:07 am said:
Hmm, for spaceships, I tend to go with:
Speed: FTL capable
Crew Complement: Small to Middling (~10)
Reliability: Rustbucket
Personality: Friendly, somewhat snarky
Technological Plausibility: Largely nonsensical
Suggestions?
Sounds like the Heart of Gold to me.
If I could pilot any spaceship I’d take an X-Wing, please, especially if it came with a Plucky Droid Sidekick.
On the British list, I’ve read the bolded and not read the italicized:
1984 by George Orwell
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger
A Passage to India by E M Forster
Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkein
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
I never had any interest in reading Catcher in the Rye, and I guess I should be embarrassed that I’m not sure I’ve ever encountered A Passage to India. What’s it about…?
I note that the American list is 20 novels, but the British list is 10. Odd, that….
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Ulysses by James Joyce (tried, but bounced off early)
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
The Bible (read most of it; does that count…?)
1984 by George Orwell
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (see above…)
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (Never heard of it)
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James (No interest.)
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Harry Potter (series) by J.K. Rowling
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (I went on a Dickens kick in my youth, but somehow never got around to this one.)
About five years ago, I decided I needed to read some Russian Novels. So I walked into a bookstore, got Tolstoy and some Dostoevsky, and plunked them down at the checkout desk. The very-young sales clerk blinked at me. “Light summer reading,” I explained. She poked at Crime and Punishment and said, “I think I saw the movie once….
Books on the lists I have read:
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Ulysses by James Joyce
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
The Bible
1984 by George Orwell
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Harry Potter (series) by J.K. Rowling
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
War and Peace may have been an abridged edition — it was a long time ago.
The Bible was a mid-20th century Catholic translation, so it included the Apocrypha…I read it cover to cover one year in high school. I’ve also read large chunks of a few other translations, including the King James. When ‘missionaries’ come to my door asking whether I am interested in studying the Bible, I say “Oh? Which translation? I own 5.” For some reason I never get an answer, and they never stay to talk.
1984 by George Orwell – 26%
Read this once, but NOT in 1984. I read Animal Farm (for a class) that year. Also saw a semi-musical version on stage at the National Theatre for the class, and went back on my own impoverished student
dimetenpence to see it again. (That same year, I saw the original version of Rough Crossing by Tom Stoppard with Michael Kitchen creating the role of Dvornichek. My God, Kitchen is good at comedy. It’s spoilt me for any other actor in that role all these years.)War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy – 19%
Nope. I did see part of a movie. Mostly for the fall-front trousers. 😉
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens – 18%
Yes, but I don’t remember most of it. I remember the scenes set in the frontispiece in a Jasper Fforde book better. (If you like the classics, or just like the classics being sent up, I cannot recommend Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next books enough.)
Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger – 15%
Yes, for a class in Junior High. Blech.
Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkein – 11%
Many, many, MANY times.
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee – 10%
Ditto
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen – 8%
More than once AND seen TV specials AND seen movies AND read Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal. But NOT the zombie book. I’m sooooo not into zombies.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë – 5%
Several times, AND The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde AND Jenna Starborn by Sharon Shinn
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
Nope, though I can recognize the first line.
The Bible
I’ve read almost all of it at one time or another, minus the begats and Revelations. AND I’ve read Asimov’s Guide to the Bible AND The Heliand, translated by G Ronald Murphy.
(READ THE HELIAND if you are interested in early Christian history or Norse religion. It’s a re-telling of the Gospel aimed at pagan Saxons, written around the time of Charlemagne. The unknown person who wrote it was brilliant. It takes the Mediterranean peace and turn the other cheek message of Jesus and turns it into an understandable message for Saxon culture without changing the meaning of the message. Brilliant. Also contains insights into Pagan Germanic religion. /end evangelizing for Dr Murphy.)
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Once was enough.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
I started and gave up.
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Never even heard of it.
Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
Nope. Though I do enjoy the Tweets by Fifty Nerds of Grey that drift across my timeline every once in a while.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Once was enough. Though the Anger Management Workshop scene in The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde had me rolling on the ground.
Harry Potter (series) by J.K. Rowling
All of them, and the movies, several times.
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Once but I don’t remember it.
A Passage to India by E M Forster – 12%
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky – 8%
Ulysses by James Joyce
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Nope to all
.
rea on January 21, 2016 at 7:25 am said:
For this reason, plus his months in a cryofreezer and years in hospital, I maintain that Miles Vorkosigan is significantly younger both physically and developmentally than his second cousin Ivan Vorpatril.
On both lists, I haven’t read 3 1/2 — Infinite Jest, 50 Shades, Passage to India, and half of Moby-Dick. (In my defense, I am both old and an English major.)
For a brief interview of David Hartwell talking about his ties, Fast Forward TV has posted one:
Blast, the link command isn’t working for me. Copy the following:
I haven’t read the Bible or Fifty shades. Or either of those Dickens. Read the first four Potter books only. Can’t remember if I read Sense and Sensibility or Pride and Prejudice, one of them anyway.
I’ve read all the others
Growing up Catholic, the first Bible I encountered was the Douay translation, which by the time I was in high school the priests and nuns were rolling their eyes at and recommending newer, better translations. I still have a certain fondness for it, though.
Spaceship: The concerns, or at least my concerns, being safety and comfort, I’ll take Dutiful Passage from Sharon Lee & Steve Miller’s Liaden universe.
From first list:
1984 by George Orwell (read during 2005 Worldcon)
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (read a chapter a day with friends online in 2012)
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (reread last year)
Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger (read it, hated it)
A Passage to India by E M Forster (only one I haven’t read on this list)
Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (loved it)
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (school set text)
From second list:
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Ulysses by James Joyce (reread it last year)
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
The Bible
1984 by George Orwell
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (also read it a chapter a day with friends, a year ago)
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Harry Potter (series) by J.K. Rowling
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
I don’t feel any strong incentive to fill the gaps in the second list. You can find reviews of most of them on my LibraryThing and LJ.
I’m sorry to miss Confusion, it’s one of my favorite cons because of the profusion of authors there and I’d love a chance to meet Laura, but I haven’t made it back for a few years. Please have a drink or three for me.
If people are handing out spaceships I’ll take a Green Lantern ring, please.
I’ve read 1984 multiple times–same with Brave New World. (And yes, they really don’t have much in common, save they’re both set in a version of a possible future.)
I see I’ve most of the books on both of the lists (the most recent re-read was To Kill A Mockingbird). Some, like Crime and Punishment or Catcher in the Rye, I plan on never touching again. But it does remind me that it’s past time read Catch-22 once more.
Netflix have ordered a 10 episode adaptation of Altered Carbon. W00T!
http://deadline.com/2016/01/altered-carbon-drama-series-laeta-kalogridis-netflix-skydance-1201684680/
(2) IN WORDS OF MORE THAN ONE SYLLABLE. I’d like to call it “Tartarus.” There are a number of possibilities for it, but the paper mainly focused on a planet with 10x the mass of Earth, an eccentricity of 0.6 (which is really elliptical), and a semimajor axis (distance from the sun) of 700 AU.
For comparison, Neptune is about 30 times as far from the sun as the Earth is, but Tartarus (at maximum distance) would be over 30 times as far from the Sun as Neptune is.
People think of it being dark out where Neptune is, but the sunlight in space is actually a lot brighter than the average indoor conference room on Earth. But Tartarus really would be dark.
The cool thing is, I think it’s really out there. Brown has very strong credentials, and I think it’ll be hard to explain his results any other way. The next big step will be getting enough data to pick a particular orbit. (There’s a bit of a “two equations in three unknowns” problem here.)
(4) FAKING IT. Anyone who wants to know what I’ve read is more than welcome to friend me on Goodreads. 🙂
Thinking of spaceships and seeing Justice of Toren mentioned reminds me of something I have been surprised about since I read Ancillary Justice. I have seen the books compared to the Culture and a number of other books but never to The Dragon Never Sleeps. The Guardships and Canon space are handled differently but I know they were the first think I thought of as I was reading Justice.
James Moar said:
There actually is a ’50 Shades of Black’ movie coming out. It’s a parody of ‘Gray’, starring Marlon Wayans. I don’t think it’s for me, but I may be put off by the ‘Scary Movie’ series (which I warned my roommates were grounds for eviction).
On to other things: Am I the only one who thinks Hoyt’s “Don’t put ‘Writer’ on your business card” advice is nonsense? If I have a business card, it’s for purposes of handing to a publisher who may be looking for a freelance writer for a work-for-hire project. When that publisher looks at my card in two weeks’ time, I want them to know who I am and what use I can be to them, rather than looking at it and saying, “Huh. Got this at a convention. Was this guy an artist, a graphic designer, a writer, a copy editor? I think I met like seventy-five people that day. Oh well, I have better things to do than track them down and find out.”
You don’t put your profession on your business cards as an ego boost. You put your profession on your business cards because they’re business cards and that’s your business.
(9) Re: Don’t put writer on your business card
There was some discussion of this in the comments. I think her position was that you shouldn’t do this if you hadn’t published much yet. Once you were established it was more acceptable.
I wonder if this was spurred by the debate with Kristen Lamb who appeared in MGC comments as Author Kristen Lamb.
Starship? The Liberator for sure.
Zen certainly manages the snarky aspect, and I always like a ship fast enough you can run away from most things in and well enough armed to make anything that can catch you seriously regret it.
There was some discussion of this in the comments. I think her position was that you shouldn’t do this if you hadn’t published much yet. Once you were established it was more acceptable.
So, don’t put writer on your business card when you aren’t well-known and it would be useful to remind them, but do put it on after you’ve established yourself and don’t really need to provide the memory aid any more. Makes perfect sense.
Books people pretend to read… you see this in IT a lot. Shelves full of books without creases in them. People often pretend to be more well read technically than they are. Its pretty funny. The funniest part is technical books are expensive. They are typically $40-60. So people often have stacks of unread and expensive technical books sitting in their cubes and offices. Technical books do not sell alot of copies and authors do not make a living from writing them. They do it mainly as marketing so they can sell themselves as consultants. I wonder if they sell more books to people who never read them than to people who have actually read them.
Most technical books are trash and are often practically copies and paste of free documentation with a new cover on them. Only a handful are even worth reading anyway.
I remember actually reading 1984. I was bored to tears trying to finish it. It was back in the 1990s. It is one of the most memorable books I ever read. I have burned through entire series of SF/Fantasy books and barely remember anything, but a book that bored me to tears is memorable. Go figure. It is a boring book, but also a memorable one. The smartest thing the author did was keep it short and remove any bloat.
The planet will always be Yuggoth to me.
I actually kinda agree with Hoyt (which probably means the eldritch stars are right, now that we have found Yuggoth!) It’s basically the same reason I don’t introduce myself as an artist. If you say “artist” people tell you that their Great Aunt is in a watercolor class–I say “illustrator,” which implies other things.
Tell me the name of the book you’re promoting, or just a “Books at xxxx.com” or whatever. Much more useful.
With the exception of Fifty Shades of Grey, I’ve read all the works on that list. But it is due to the fact that I had a two year period as a teen and a two year period in my mid-20s where I focused entirely on reading the ‘classics’. There’s a couple I didn’t get through (anyone who claims to read Joyce for pleasure is a masochist) but in general, it turned me into a fan of Victorian era lit.
I still loathe Jane Austin.
UK List:
1984 by George Orwell – Yes
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy – No
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens – Yes
Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger – Yes, though I prefer his stories about the Glass family.
A Passage to India by E M Forster – No
Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkein – Yes
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee – Yes
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky – Yes, though one of these days I want to read the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen – Yes, though it’s never made a lasting impression on me.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë – Yes.
US List (duplicates removed)
Ulysses by James Joyce – Yes, but got about halfway through before I realized I wasn’t reading it, I was just looking at the words on the page
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville – Yes
The Bible – Yes (Specifically, the NRSV and a JPS Tanakh. Right now I’m using the Eastern/Greek Orthodox Bible New Testament, and the New English Translation of the Septuagint)
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald – Yes
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy – No
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace – No
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller – No
Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James – Got halfway through, got bored at the first sex scene.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte – No
Harry Potter (series) by J.K. Rowling – Yes
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens – Yes
RE: business cards minus whatever it is you are doing for pay. Particularly in today’s world of indie publishing, it would seem to me (and I have no dog in this particular hunt) that putting “Writer, editor, beta reader services” or whatever on your cards, would indeed be useful in drumming up business from people who might need those services. Call me naive, but 6 months from now, someone may have finally decided to take the plunge, and your card may result in you editing the next JK Rowling.
As far as ‘Author Kristen Lamb’, she may be trying to insure that she isn’t mistaken for some other Kristen Lamb. That name is not particularly unusual, after all.
(4) FAKING IT
Here’s my count (bolded titles have been read). I read a fair amount of these before college. A few of the odder ones for me (like Catch-22) were read during family trips where reading material was scarce and someone else had brought that book.
1984 by George Orwell
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger [somehow missed having this assigned]
A Passage to India by E M Forster
Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkein
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Ulysses by James Joyce [I think I may have started it at one point but bounced off]
Moby-Dick [Although I did read Typee and Billy Budd. Do I get partial credit?]
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
The Bible
1984 by George Orwell
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Harry Potter (series) by J.K. Rowling
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
(6) REMEMBERING HARTWELL
I large number of close friends of mine knew him very well and are reeling at the moment. To the best of my knowledge, I never met him (although I was likely at the same convention any number of times.) This is not at all unusual for me. I often live a life at angles to other people.
(13) IT’S A THEORY
The sort of analysis that traces story motifs like this back to a great time-depth tends to strip the “shared story” down to a fairly skeletal essence. The great Indo-Europeanist Calvert Watkins wrote a lengthy and analytical treatise on this topic titled How to Kill a Dragon back 20 years ago.
I have suddenly remembered that Bob Shaw (IIRC) book in which the protagonist gets mind wiped but tries to remember his name by holding a book in his hands. His surname is Tolstoy so the choice is obvious and easy; the unfortunate result is that he spends quite a long time convinced that his name is Warren Peace.
Borrowing the list from Alex’s post:
1984: Yes
War and Peace: No
Great Expectations: Yes
Catcher in the Rye: Yes
A Passage to India: No
Lord of the Rings: Yes
To Kill A Mockingbird: Yes
Crime and Punishment: Yes
Pride and Prejudice: Yes
Jane Eyre: Yes
Ulysses: No, but I’ve read (and enjoyed) both Dubliners and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
Moby Dick: Yes
The Bible: Partial. I’ve read chunks of it for various bible study classes and heard a lot of it read aloud in church, but never sat down to read the whole thing front-to-back like a novel.
The Great Gatsby: Yes
Anna Karenina: Yes
Infinite Jest: No
Catch-22: Yes
Fifty Shades of Grey: Yes
Wuthering Heights: Yes
Harry Potter (series): Yes through book 5, but I never made it to the end of book 6 and didn’t attempt book 7.
A Tale of Two Cities: Yes