(1) James H. Burns recalls the effects of 9/11 on Broadway in “Delphinus, in the Northern Sky” (posted in 2012).
It’s eleven years later, and we’re still here. Still able to perform, or write, or otherwise create, or, also wonderful, to be able to embrace those passions.
I was just thinking of the guts it took for the actors who resumed their places on the stage so soon after that day in September.
Remember the courage it took, for some of us, just to walk down the street. And these folks were resuming one of the toughest challenges, in the arts.
(2) Melbourne has a website that maps every one of its city trees. Citizens can report a particular tree’s condition and get the city to attend to it. The website has a button “Email this tree,” short for “Email the city about this tree.”
Except, as fans will do, many take the label literally, and email the tree about life, the universe, and everything.
People around the world have been e-mailing trees in Melbourne to confess their love.
As part of the Urban Forest Strategy — implemented to combat the steady decline of trees following a 13 year drought — the city assigned all of the Melbourne’s 77000 trees individual emails.
The idea was residents could use these emails to report trees that had been vandalised or were in a severe state of decline.
Only, people decided to make another use for the email and began writing love letters to their favourite trees….
Weeping Myrtle, Tree ID 1494392
Hello Weeping Myrtle,
I’m sitting inside near you and I noticed on the urban tree map you don’t have many friends nearby. I think that’s sad so I want you to know I’m thinking of you.
I also want to thank you for providing oxygen for us to breath in the hustle and bustle of the city.
Best Regards,
N …
Variegated Elm, Tree ID 1033102
Dear Elm, I was delighted to find you alive and flourishing, because a lot of your family used to live in the UK, but they all caught a terrible infection and died.
Do be very careful, and if you notice any unfamiliar insects e-mail an arboriculturist at once.
I miss your characteristic silhouettes and beautifully shaped branches — used to be one of the glories of the English landscape — more than I can say.
Melbourne must be a beautiful city.
Sincere good wishes
D
The Urban Forest Strategy will see 3000 new trees planted in Melbourne each year and since its implementation in 2012, 12000 new trees have been added to the city’s urban landscape.
(3) Step inside Crew Dragon, SpaceX’s next-generation spacecraft designed to carry humans to the International Space Station and other destinations.
(4) Major league baseball’s Pittsburgh Pirates welcomed back devoted Batman fan A.J. Burnett by sending up the Bat-Signal.
(5) Need a little adventure in your life? Tor.com is seeking an in-house publicity coordinator.
This person will work with publicity and editorial departments and contacts throughout all of genre publishing, developing plans for comprehensive book coverage on Tor.com and assisting with publisher and author outreach. They will also be responsible for encouraging and moderating conversation between readers on the site and on social media.
This is a full-time position working in our New York office. Ideally, we are looking for a candidate with at least 2 years of publishing experience, who is outgoing, extremely organized, and detail-oriented. Applicants should be both highly enthusiastic and knowledgeable about science fiction and fantasy across a range of media….
(6) Did I forget to mention – issue 24 of Hugo-winning fanzine Journey Planet, the Richard III theme issue, is available online. This issue contains a series of articles by Steven H Silver, Joan Szechtman, Chuck Serface, K.A. Laity, Ruth Pe Palileo and Pixie P.as welll as pieces by editors James Bacon and Chris Garcia. The cover, some interior and technical art work was provided by Autun Purser, a full-time deep sea ecologist, who has created a series of travel posters, advertising travel to destinations from unusual fiction – the “Fantastic Travel Destinations.”
(7) Kevin Standlee shares several examples that show why Hugo Administrators aren’t activists.
- 1989 and A Brief History of Time (Scroll down and click “further detail” for a bit more information.) In 1989, Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time had sufficient nominations to make the final ballot. The Administrator ruled it ineligible, as the definition of Best Non-Fiction Book (the title of the category now known as Best Related Work) at that time said that the book had to be about “science fiction, fantasy, or fandom,” and thus the Administrator ruled that science books weren’t eligible. This decision was controversial. There were attempted changes to the WSFS Constitution that year that were eventually rejected, IMO mainly because nobody could agree on a consistent proposal. It took several years of argument, but eventually the 1996 WSFS Business Meeting passed (and the 1997 meeting ratified) the change of the category from “Best Non-Fiction Book” to “Best Related Book,” thus:
Any work whose subject is related to the field of science fiction, fantasy, or fandom, appearing for the first time in book form during the previous calendar year, and which is either non-fiction or, if fictional, is noteworthy primarily for aspects other than the fictional text.
Note that ABHOT would have been eligible under this wording.
(8) Naturellement !
For the record, I've always pronounced "Voldemort" correctly.
— John Scalzi (@scalzi) September 11, 2015
(9) These Black Mouse Printing Titanium Steel His and Hers Band Couple Rings are cute as the dickens and go for only $59.
(10) Cat Valente in a comment on Jay Maynard’s award proposal at Black Gate
…Because it’s simply not right to say a good story has no message. Story and message are not separable, hostile camps demanding loyalty only to one or the other. A good story has themes. A good story is about something. A good story is not only about things that happen one after the other, but about why they happen, and how, and to whom, and how all those things interconnect. And all that can happen WITH ray guns and explosions and buxom princesses. It happens literally all the time. One does not kick the other out of bed for eating crackers.
The author always, ALWAYS, communicates their own culture and experience through their fiction. There is no writing without that cultural electricity animating it. It’s not good or bad. It just is. We cannot help it, we are human. To say that Ancillary Justice is message fiction and undeserving but Time Enough for Love is not is to say that some of those communicated experiences are good and should be promulgated and some are worthless and should be cast aside. And I don’t think there’s anything in the world that should be cast aside and never written about.
However, no one, not even the terrible, no good, very bad SJWs, has ever said that the best stories are ones where the “message” overrides the good story. Everyone wants a good story. Everyone wants to sink into a novel and get totally wrapped up in the tale. There is no need to split into camps on this topic because there is literally no argument. Everyone wants the same thing.
The difference lies in the fact that for some people, a story that communicates an experience that they are unfamiliar with, whether a gendered one, or racial, or sexual, or even literary, jars them out of the story and makes it harder to get wrapped up in it. I can even use my powers of empathy to understand that, because it jars me out of a story when I come across a message about how shitty and/or unnecessary women are, because I am a woman and I like to not feel like I am shitty and unnecessary. But unfortunately, for some people, me just writing a story that draws on my life experience IS political, because my experience isn’t theirs, and the central presence of women in a story is, for them, a political act….
(11) Ruth A. Johnston, author of Re-Modeling the Mind: Personality in Balance, was interviewed by L. Jagi Lamplighter at Superversive SF about her interpretation of the Hugo kerfuffle. It’s part of a series – later installments will apply her theory to characters in John C. Wright’s Night Land stories, and “If You Were A Dinosaur, My Love” as well as the larger Hugo/culture war picture.
Part One: What Forces Drive the SciFi Culture Wars?
Q: In the Afterword to your new book, you suggest that ideas about personality might help us understand “culture wars” by showing how the sides just see the world differently. What do you mean by “personality-based worldviews”?
A: The thesis of Re-Modeling the Mind is that our brains can’t process all of the information that comes at us constantly, so each brain organizes itself around more limited options, depending on the neural strengths it already has. When we talk about “personality” we mean these limitations and abilities, which are usually clearly visible when we watch each other. We know ourselves this way, too. We know there are things we simply can’t take in, or if we can take in the facts, we can’t manage them to make decisions. There are things we pay close attention to, and other things we just can’t be bothered with. Personality is this very real neural patterning that filters the world so that it’s manageable.
But this means that our personalities also limit and even blind us to things other people can perceive and manage. We’re all in the same physical world, in the sense that we agree on where the objects are, so that we can avoid running into them. But at a more complex level, we really don’t all live in the same world. Our personalities can have such root-level different views of the world that we can barely have conversations. This is what I’d call a personality-based worldview.
I’m not a science-fiction reader, and I’d never heard of the Hugos until this year. But watching the ferocity of the battles made me feel convinced that at least some of this culture war is provoked by a clash of personality-based worldviews. In other words, probably the leaders and many supporters of each faction share some personality traits so that they all “live” in a similar world. In each faction’s “world,” its values are not only sensible but the only possible ones. Or if not the only possible ones, the only morally right or safe ones. This is why it’s so hard to have a conversation. It’s self-evident to each faction that its values are right, and the arguments offered by the other faction hold no water in their worldview. A lot of people on both sides feel that if So and So wins a prize, moral right or wrong will be rewarded.
(12) David Gerrold on Facebook is working out his own communication theory to explain “the recent squabble in SF fandom.”
…We now live in a world of self-organizing subcultures. Some of them are positive — organizing around the desire to address various challenges. Some of the clusters are negative, organizing around cult-like behaviors. Some are in the business of disseminating valuable information — some are in the business of misinformation and propaganda.
There’s a psychological phenomenon about new media — we give it gravitas. The first decade of any medium is the decade of education and assimilation. ie. We have to learn how to filter the information, we have to learn how to recognize that it is not an access to truth, merely one more way to be massaged. Example: The 1938 Orson Wells “War of the World” broadcast and panic. That happened while radio was still in its infancy for most listeners.
The internet is experiencing a prolonged childhood — most of us are still somewhere on the learning curve. We still trust too much of what we’re seeing on our computer screens, because we haven’t learned how to distrust it yet.
That’s the context in which we’re all operating. We’re being assaulted by an avalanche of data — we have to figure out how to mine it for actual information.
We have built the kind of technology that gives every person on the planet access to vast libraries of information and the ability to communicate with people all over the globe. But even if we’ve built a global village, we haven’t yet learned how to live in it. We’ve brought our prejudices and our beliefs and our parochial world-views.
Here, on this continent, we’ve built a cultural monomyth that carries within it the seeds of our own destruction — the mythic hero. We believe in John Wayne, the strong man who comes to rescue us. It’s a variation on the Christ myth. Or Superman. Or Batman. We’re incapable of being responsible, we need a daddy figure to sort things out for us. (The savage deconstruction of this monomyth is a movie called “High Noon.” It’s worth a look.)
Belief in superheros is an adolescent fantasy — it’s a way of abnegating personal responsibility. Whatever is wrong with the world, the Justice League, the Avengers, SHIELD will fix it.
The counterpoint is that whatever is wrong with the world — it’s not us. It’s THRUSH or SPECTRE or HYDRA or some other unnamed conspiracy. It’s always a conspiracy. …
(13) Steve Davidson has an advanced scouting report on next year’s Retro Hugos, which will be voted by members of MidAmeriCon II for eligible work from 1940.
But when it comes to the editor’s categories, we’re going to be restricted to one, that for Short Form.
Of course Campbell is the natural choice here, but take a minute to consider everyone who is eligible:
Mary Gnaedinger – Famous Fantastic Mysteries, Fantastic Novels (reprints)
Raymond A. Palmer – Amazing Stories, Amazing Stories Quarterly (reprint), Fantastic Adventures
Mort Weisinger – Captain Future, Startling Stories, Thrilling Wonder Stories
Frederik Pohl – Astonishing, Super Science Stories
F. Orlin Tremaine – Comet
Charles D. Hornig – Future Fiction, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Quarterly
Martin Goodman – Marvel Tales/Marvel Stories
Malcolm Reiss -Planet Stories
John W. Campbell Jr. – Astounding Science Fiction, Unknown
Farnsworth Wright – Weird Tales
None of the other editors had anything approaching the budget that Campbell had, yet Pohl, Hornig and Weisinger managed to put together some very fine issues from time to time (often relying on friends for copy at cut-rates), while Malcolm Reiss practically gave birth to the sword and planet sub-genre (not to mention introducing us all to Leigh Brackett!) with Planet Stories and several of the other magazines had a material impact on the field – if only by keeping certain authors and artists barely fed.
[Thanks to Mark (wait, not that one, the other one), L. Jagi Lamplighter, Martin Morse Wooster, and John King Tarpinian. Title credit to File 770 contributing editor of the day Brian Z.]
Discover more from File 770
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
“Messages” we agree with are often invisible to us. That’s why the turnabout test can be helpful.
Don’t see a message when the villain in a piece of fiction voices right wing views? Perform a thought experiment, and pretend the villain is voicing left wing views, and suddenly we see a message. The message was there, but because we agreed with it, we didn’t see that it was a message.
Purely message or didactic fiction, however, is rarer than the Puppies think. Outside of some stories for children and some Soviet era novels about a boy and his tractor, even fiction with a strong thesis (which would include most SF) engages primarily with characters and situation.
1. HORRIBLE THINGS IN THE BIG CITY
Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
Something from the Nightside, Simon R. Green
Abstain. I read half of Perdido and put it down somewhere, and I’ve not read the Green.
2. THE TRUE QUEEN IN DISGUISE
The Bone Doll’s Twin, Lynn Flewelling
The Tower at Stony Wood, Patricia McKillip
Ooh, this is a hard one. If Bone Doll is the one I’m thinking of, it’s really good. But McKillip. Umm, I’ll have to give it to Tower by a hair.
3. KINGDOM THAT NEVER WAS, KINGDOM THAT NEVER WILL BE
Lost Burgundy, Mary Gentle
Bold As Love, Gwyneth Jones
I’ve got a copy of Ash an English friend sent me. Amazing book. Even though I’ve not read the Jones, I have to vote for the Gentle.
4. EPIC STORIES
The Salt Roads, Nalo Hopkinson
Ship of Destiny, Robin Hobb
Hopkinson, no question. I like Lindholm’s work, but oddly, not Hobb’s so much.
5. CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR
Deadhouse Gates, Steven Erikson
A Storm of Swords, George R. R. Martin
Abstain; I’ve not read either.
6. SOMETHING IS HAPPENING HERE BUT YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS
The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque, Jeffrey Ford
Declare, Tim Powers
Abstain; I’ve only read the Powers and I’m ambivalent about it.
7. THE DROWNED ISLAND
Point of Dreams, Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett
Galveston, Sean Stewart
Galveston. That mask….
8. INEVITABLE MATCHUP
Day Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
Pratchett. What, you thought there was a choice here?
9. BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS
The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon
I’ve not read the Zafon, so I’ll abstain.
10. THIS DOOR LEADS SOMEWHERE STRANGE
Coraline, Neil Gaiman
House of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
I’ve not read the Danielewski, so I’ll abstain.
11. THE TERRIFYING COURTS OF THE FAE
Summer Knight, Jim Butcher
Tithe, Holly Black
Summer Knight, by a nose
12. RECOVERING FROM THE WORST
Fire Logic, Laurie J. Marks
White Apples, Jonathan Carroll
Fire Logic. I wonder if the last book will ever come out?
13. BEYOND THE GATES OF DEATH
Abhorsen, Garth Nix
The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
Abstain; I don’t remember reading either.
14. VAMPIRES VS. WEREWOLVES
Sunshine, Robin McKinley
Bitten, Kelley Armstrong
Sunshine.
15. PROPER PROPRIETY OR SENSUAL SADOMASOCHISM
Tooth and Claw, Jo Walton
Kushiel’s Dart, Jacqueline Carey
Ooh, a hard one. Tooth and Claw.
16. ATTRACTION KNOWS NO RULES
The Queen of Attolia, Megan Whalen Turner
Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold
Aaaarrrrrrghhhhhhhh! also ARRRGGGHHHGGGG! I love, love, love them both. Paladin, by the merest whisker
The other book by MG is The Black Opera.
@Kyra
1. HORRIBLE THINGS IN THE BIG CITY
Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
No contest for me, here, I’m afraid.
2. THE TRUE QUEEN IN DISGUISE
The Tower at Stony Wood, Patricia McKillip.
I have mixed reactions to McKillip, but will go with this one.
3. KINGDOM THAT NEVER WAS, KINGDOM THAT NEVER WILL BE
Lost Burgundy, Mary Gentle
4. EPIC STORIES
Ship of Destiny, Robin Hobb
Hemmed and hawed over this, decided to go with the Hobb.
5. CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR
Deadhouse Gates, Steven Erikson
A Storm of Swords, George R. R. Martin
No. Not going to choose between the two big mega-epics at this early stage. Tie.
6. SOMETHING IS HAPPENING HERE BUT YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS
Declare, Tim Powers
Maybe unfair, since I only recently read Declare, so it’s fresher in my mind. But I’ll go with it.
7. THE DROWNED ISLAND
Haven’t read either. Abstain.
8. INEVITABLE MATCHUP
Day Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
Tie. Pratchett is, well, Pratchett, but there’s a lot to love about Lukyanenko, too.
9. BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS
The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
10. THIS DOOR LEADS SOMEWHERE STRANGE
Coraline, Neil Gaiman
11. THE TERRIFYING COURTS OF THE FAE
Tithe, Holly Black
(I just lost interest in the Dresden books. If the overall story can’t hold my interest, well, that’s a weakness.)
12. RECOVERING FROM THE WORST
White Apples, Jonathan Carroll
Carroll is another one I have mixed feelings about – frequently annoying, just as frequently brilliant.
13. BEYOND THE GATES OF DEATH
The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
14. VAMPIRES VS. WEREWOLVES
Bitten, Kelley Armstrong
I will always go for werewolves over vampires. And I really liked Bitten, too.
15. PROPER PROPRIETY OR SENSUAL SADOMASOCHISM
Tooth and Claw, Jo Walton
Propriety is actually more fun, IMHO.
16. ATTRACTION KNOWS NO RULES
Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold
1. Perdido Street Station
2. The Tower at Stony Wood
4. Ship of destiny
8. Night watch
14. Sunshine
15. Tooth and claw
16. Aaaaargh! Two favourite books. Queen of Attolia because it’s getting thumped.
I’m going to participate this time! At least in the first round . . .
2. THE TRUE QUEEN IN DISGUISE
The Bone Doll’s Twin, Lynn Flewelling
Ouch! This hurts, but I remember being stunned by the Flewelling when it first came out.
4. EPIC STORIES
Ship of Destiny, Robin Hobb
Almost anything by Robin Hobb.
5. CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR
A Storm of Swords, George R. R. Martin
Ditto.
7. THE DROWNED ISLAND
Point of Dreams, Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett
I loved this book when it first came out . . .
8. INEVITABLE MATCHUP
Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
Not my favorite Pratchett, but damn close.
9. BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS
The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
Eh. Okay. Interesting premise.
10. THIS DOOR LEADS SOMEWHERE STRANGE
Coraline, Neil Gaiman
Spooky.
11. THE TERRIFYING COURTS OF THE FAE
Summer Knight, Jim Butcher
Almost didn’t vote on this one, because I haven’t read the Black–but I did enjoy the Butcher, so.
12. RECOVERING FROM THE WORST
Fire Logic, Laurie J. Marks
Ditto.
13. BEYOND THE GATES OF DEATH
The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
Oh, for–I want to vote on both!
14. VAMPIRES VS. WEREWOLVES
Sunshine, Robin McKinley
Though the Armstrong is a good read, too.
15. PROPER PROPRIETY OR SENSUAL SADOMASOCHISM
Tooth and Claw, Jo Walton
Yep, Jo Walton for the win–anything.
16. ATTRACTION KNOWS NO RULES
Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold
And–ding, ding, ding!–my choice for overall champion!
> “Fire Logic. I wonder if the last book will ever come out?”
Rosemary Kirstein, who is a friend of Marks and in the same writer’s group, said on her blog at the end of last year that she had a “pre-final-edit copy” of Air Logic. However, as of yet there’s been no word from Marks herself about it.
I’m very new here, really started hanging out as this was the safest place I could find to weather the Puppies 3 shitstorm, so not sure how the fantasy bracket thing works, BUT –
I must say that I seriously LOVE Tim Powers’ Declare. Reading it kicked me into high gear to read everything else I could by him, accidentally connect with him online and get to personally know him, and travel out of state to attend a con where he was GOH and have dinner with him and his wife. All of which was breathtaking fun (and totally not normal for me) but none of which equalled that first, breathtaking read of Declare. Which reminds me I need to re-read it and possibly replace my tattered copy.
I also have nothing but high praise for Jasper Fforde’s Tuesday Next series, which includes an entry on this list. Though I have yet to travel the world stalking him.
Move along, nothing to see here.
@gmarie for each pair vote which you think is better, declare a tie or abstain, that’s all there is too it.*
*May include gnashing of teeth, weeping, or head-deaking as two books you love will eventually end up in a showdown.
HEAT ONE – DAWN OF A NEW MILLENIUM
7. THE DROWNED ISLAND
Point of Dreams, Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett
15. PROPER PROPRIETY OR SENSUAL SADOMASOCHISM
Tooth and Claw, Jo Walton
16. ATTRACTION KNOWS NO RULES
Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold
Does anyone have thoughts about Mary Gentle’s The Black Opera mentioned above? I haven’t read any of her books but a review I read put it on my ‘maybe’ list.
1. HORRIBLE THINGS IN THE BIG CITY
Abstain
2. THE TRUE QUEEN IN DISGUISE
The Tower at Stony Wood, Patricia McKillip
3. KINGDOM THAT NEVER WAS, KINGDOM THAT NEVER WILL BE
Abstain
4. EPIC STORIES
The Salt Roads, Nalo Hopkinson
5. CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR
Deadhouse Gates, Steven Erikson
This bracket is defective. There is only one #5.
6. SOMETHING IS HAPPENING HERE BUT YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS
Abstain
7. THE DROWNED ISLAND
Abstain
8. INEVITABLE MATCHUP
Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
9. BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS
The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
10. THIS DOOR LEADS SOMEWHERE STRANGE
Coraline, Neil Gaiman
11. THE TERRIFYING COURTS OF THE FAE
Tithe, Holly Black
12. RECOVERING FROM THE WORST
Abstain
13. BEYOND THE GATES OF DEATH
Abhorsen, Garth Nix
14. VAMPIRES VS. WEREWOLVES
Sunshine, Robin McKinley
15. PROPER PROPRIETY OR SENSUAL SADOMASOCHISM
Tooth and Claw, Jo Walton
No contest
16. ATTRACTION KNOWS NO RULES
Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold
Also no contest. Paladin of Souls is one of the absolutely best Fantasy novels ever written.
Someone has read Tim Powers but has not read Declare? This will not do!
My favorite remains Drawing of the Dark. Beer, the siege of Vienna, secret history, and Arthurian legend: what’s not to like? But Declare is the better book, and arguably his best. That’s an argument I wouldn’t mind having. Because I’d have to re-read the other contenders, and that would be fine.
@gmarie: lucky you. Sometimes stalking works out!
Re Ash, I read the sort-of-prequel story in an anthology and really liked it. Is the ebook on Google Play the whole book? It’s published by SF Gateway. According to the free sample, it’s 800 pages as rendered in my browser. The prologue starts in 1465, part one covers June 1476, and part 16 goes to Jan 1477.
Huh. Google Play tells me that if I like Fifty Shades of Grey, then I’ll like [list of other books]. What’s that about an argument based on a faulty premise?
I wanted to like Black Opera so badly; I even got into the groove of the alt-history thing she had going on, and then (figuratively) threw the book across the room at the title of an opera Our Hero had written the libretto for and had a triumph with because glaring flaws in research are even more painful when someone was doing so well. Haven’t managed to make myself get back to it since.
(Long-time lurker delurking: you guys got me to pick up GOD STALK)
ETA: per discussion a few days back about The Makropoulos Case, the Met in NYC puts it on sporadically but sadly did not film it the last time it came up with the amazing Karita Mattila in the title role. Genuinely lost opportunity.
HEAT ONE – DAWN OF A NEW MILLENIUM
1. HORRIBLE THINGS IN THE BIG CITY
Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
So good, so new, so weird.
2. THE TRUE QUEEN IN DISGUISE
The Tower at Stony Wood, Patricia McKillip
3. KINGDOM THAT NEVER WAS, KINGDOM THAT NEVER WILL BE
Lost Burgundy, Mary Gentle
“What does it say on his sword?” “Deus Vult.” “Oh. Mine says Pointy End Towards Enemy”.
4. EPIC STORIES
Ship of Destiny, Robin Hobb
5. CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR
A Storm of Swords, George R. R. Martin
A section of the UK cover art for this is on my walls.
6. SOMETHING IS HAPPENING HERE BUT YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS
Declare, Tim Powers
Le Carre, with Djinn.
7. THE DROWNED ISLAND
Point of Dreams, Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett
8. INEVITABLE MATCHUP
Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
9. BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS
The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
The Bathos of Swindon.
10. THIS DOOR LEADS SOMEWHERE STRANGE
Coraline, Neil Gaiman
11. THE TERRIFYING COURTS OF THE FAE
Tithe, Holly Black
12. RECOVERING FROM THE WORST
White Apples, Jonathan Carroll
13. BEYOND THE GATES OF DEATH
Abhorsen, Garth Nix
14. VAMPIRES VS. WEREWOLVES
Sunshine, Robin McKinley
15. PROPER PROPRIETY OR SENSUAL SADOMASOCHISM
Tooth and Claw, Jo Walton
16. ATTRACTION KNOWS NO RULES
Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold
Re #2
If you were a dry sequoia, my love…
(turns serious)
I would wish that you were particularly fire-resistant
And your cones would open with the heat
And rain seeds on the newly cleared understory
So that future generations can enjoy your magnificence.
As I write this, fire is threatening sequoias in Kings Canyon National Park. Fire is part of the natural cycle in a forest, and sequoias actually need it to reproduce. But it’s hard to remember this when you hike/bike/drive through a burned forest.
On Mary Gentle
The other ‘other book’ is 1610: A Sundial In A Grave
Point of order: I think Kyra should sync up with Mike and get a separate 770 entry for each bracket.
This please. I stopped reading the comments here for the most part during the last set of brackets. To me it just looked LIKE A BUNCH OF PEOPLE SHOUTING BOOK TITLES. You know, like a science fiction convention, but without the free Skittles I need to soothe myself.
OK, time to participate in the brackets:
1. HORRIBLE THINGS IN THE BIG CITY
Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
2. THE TRUE QUEEN IN DISGUISE
The Tower at Stony Wood, Patricia McKillip
3. KINGDOM THAT NEVER WAS, KINGDOM THAT NEVER WILL BE
Need to read the Jones. Abstain.
4. EPIC STORIES
Need to read some Hopkinson. Abstain.
5. CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR
Deadhouse Gates, Steven Erikson
What von Dimpleheimer said about Deadhouse Gates goes for me, too.
6. SOMETHING IS HAPPENING HERE BUT YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS
Declare, Tim Powers
7. THE DROWNED ISLAND
I prefer Mockingbird. It’s one I re-read every few years. But it was 1998. So, abstain.
8. INEVITABLE MATCHUP
Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
9. BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS
Haven’t read either. Abstain.
10. THIS DOOR LEADS SOMEWHERE STRANGE
Coraline, Neil Gaiman
11. THE TERRIFYING COURTS OF THE FAE
Haven’t read. Abstain.
12. RECOVERING FROM THE WORST
I may have read the Marks at one point, but I don’t remember it. Abstain.
13. BEYOND THE GATES OF DEATH
Haven’t read either. Abstain.
14. VAMPIRES VS. WEREWOLVES
Sunshine, Robin McKinley
15. PROPER PROPRIETY OR SENSUAL SADOMASOCHISM
Tooth and Claw, Jo Walton
Kushiel’s Dart, Jacqueline Carey
Oh dear. Tie?
16. ATTRACTION KNOWS NO RULES
Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold
1. HORRIBLE THINGS IN THE BIG CITY
Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
2. THE TRUE QUEEN IN DISGUISE
The Bone Doll’s Twin, Lynn Flewelling
4. EPIC STORIES
Ship of Destiny, Robin Hobb
5. CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR
Deadhouse Gates, Steven Erikson
7. THE DROWNED ISLAND
Galveston, Sean Stewart
8. INEVITABLE MATCHUP
Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
10. THIS DOOR LEADS SOMEWHERE STRANGE
Coraline, Neil Gaiman
13. BEYOND THE GATES OF DEATH
Abhorsen, Garth Nix
15. PROPER PROPRIETY OR SENSUAL SADOMASOCHISM
Tooth and Claw, Jo Walton
16. ATTRACTION KNOWS NO RULES
Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold
Abstaining on 3, 6, 9, 11, 12, and 14.
If the brackets are clogging things up, I’ll be happy to do whatever works best.
Mike, do you have a preference as to how to run things?
So is Jung really, it’s a useful fallback when churning out books on the interpretation of dreams and stuff like that. Because with Jung a symbol always means the same thing, which is real convenient 🙂
We could just run the brackets a day behind the current thread, so run two days of brackets in this one, then move on. That way people wishing to hit up only the days news can move on ahead of the invasion of the SHOUTY BOOK TITLES.
Near as I can tell, “mislectorist” isn’t a word, but an example of the MGC trying to make “fetch” happen.
4. EPIC STORIES
Ship of Destiny, Robin Hobb
I really like Robin Hobb.
5. CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR
A Storm of Swords, George R. R. Martin
I hated Steve Erikson. Couldn’t even finish above a few chapters. Not my style at all.
8. INEVITABLE MATCHUP
Day Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
Lukyanenko is fantastic and I’m impressed by a series that just continues to be good and well thought out. More of this! Pratchett? Nah. Kind of boring after awhile.
10. THIS DOOR LEADS SOMEWHERE STRANGE
Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman
Never liked Coraline that much.
11. THE TERRIFYING COURTS OF THE FAE
White Cat, Holly Black
I’ve read a few by Butcher, but bounced of real hard. Not impressed. Holly Black I’m really impressed by. Will vote for one I have read.
14. VAMPIRES VS. WEREWOLVES
Sunshine, Robin McKinley
Will vote for this one unread. Why? Because I didn’t like Bitten by Armstrong at all. Boring and trite.
15. PROPER PROPRIETY OR SENSUAL SADOMASOCHISM
Kushiel’s Dart, Jacqueline Carey
Yes, yes, yes, YES! Always Kushiel’s Dart! ALWAYS!
Here’s another one for the possible Hugo rolls: Europe At Midnight, the sequel to Dave Hutchison’s Clarke shortlisted Europe In Autumn is out in early November from Angry Robot.
1. HORRIBLE THINGS IN THE BIG CITY
Something from the Nightside, Simon R. Green
3. KINGDOM THAT NEVER WAS, KINGDOM THAT NEVER WILL BE
Lost Burgundy, Mary Gentle
5. CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR
A Storm of Swords, George R. R. Martin
6. SOMETHING IS HAPPENING HERE BUT YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS
Declare, Tim Powers
8. INEVITABLE MATCHUP
Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
9. BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS
The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
10. THIS DOOR LEADS SOMEWHERE STRANGE
Coraline, Neil Gaiman
11. THE TERRIFYING COURTS OF THE FAE
Summer Knight, Jim Butcher
12. RECOVERING FROM THE WORST
White Apples, Jonathan Carroll
13. BEYOND THE GATES OF DEATH
The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
16. ATTRACTION KNOWS NO RULES
Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold
Forgot to God Stalk
@ Iphinome – Thank you for clueing me in.
Ok, here it goes.
Kyra on September 12, 2015 at 4:34 am said:
HEAT ONE – DAWN OF A NEW MILLENIUM
1. HORRIBLE THINGS IN THE BIG CITY
Abstain – I’ve tried reading both and found them not my cuppa.
2. THE TRUE QUEEN IN DISGUISE
Abstain – adding them to my reading list
3. KINGDOM THAT NEVER WAS, KINGDOM THAT NEVER WILL BE
Abstain – add to reading list
4. EPIC STORIES
Abstain – add to reading list
5. CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR
Abstain – have read the GRRM and it’s not my favorite book
6. SOMETHING IS HAPPENING HERE BUT YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS
Declare, Tim Powers
– but need to read the other
7. THE DROWNED ISLAND
Abstain
8. INEVITABLE MATCHUP
Abstain
9. BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS
The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
10. THIS DOOR LEADS SOMEWHERE STRANGE
Abstain – don’t like Gaiman’s writing, need to read the other
11. THE TERRIFYING COURTS OF THE FAE
Summer Knight, Jim Butcher
– but need to read the other. added to reading list
12. RECOVERING FROM THE WORST
Abstain – add to reading list
13. BEYOND THE GATES OF DEATH
The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
14. VAMPIRES VS. WEREWOLVES
Abstain – don’t read in this category
15. PROPER PROPRIETY OR SENSUAL SADOMASOCHISM
Kushiel’s Dart, Jacqueline Carey
– added other to reading list
16. ATTRACTION KNOWS NO RULES
Abstain – add to reading list
I checked and the original quote did have a link explaining mislectorist so I think we have to let them off on that one, which just leaves the apparent allergy to “complex” punctuation, and the fairly obvious desire to leap on the nearest noisy bandwagon.
1. HORRIBLE THINGS IN THE BIG CITY
Something from the Nightside, Simon R. Green
This is a fun read, though it has “first book in the series” syndrome. And I seem to bounce off Mieville; I’ve started several of his books and just don’t get it. Sorry.
5. CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR
A Storm of Swords, George R. R. Martin
6. SOMETHING IS HAPPENING HERE BUT YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS
Declare, Tim Powers
This is a seriously disturbing book. Will read again.
8. INEVITABLE MATCHUP
Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
10. THIS DOOR LEADS SOMEWHERE STRANGE
Coraline, Neil Gaiman Again, this is quite a disturbing book. The movie too hit that “creepy” vibe.
11. THE TERRIFYING COURTS OF THE FAE
Summer Knight, Jim Butcher
I’d also offer for consideration Mike Shevdon’s “61 Nails (Courts of the Feyre, Book 1)” as a write-in. It’s got an interesting plot, good character development and the “oooh boogidie faerie mystery powers” are well-developed and constrained. Kept me entertained.
Erm, I just noticed that some of my choices appealed to me because they were “creepy” or “disturbing”. I’m sure Freud would have something to say about that
And if people haven’t read Europe In Autumn they should go out and buy it straight away. It is great and was on my Hugo nominations last year.
If people are looking for a modern take on cyberpunk then Al Robertson’s Crashing Heaven is worth reading – a very strong first novel. Also eligible for this year, One of the main characters is a foul-mouthed virtual ventriloquist’s dummy!
I haven’t read their opposition, but I’m voting for ’em anyway, because Confucius:
G.R.R. Martin.
pTerry pRatchett.
Jasper Fforde.
Neil Gaiman.
Jim Butcher.
I stare at my overfilled bookshelves and I certainly remember reading a lot of them, but then I get to these bracket things and wonder if I’ve been living in a parallel time-stream. The reality is more boring: this set of brackets run from the period when I was struggling to finish my dissertation and had trouble reading thinky books that weren’t about cognitive linguistics, to the period when I was seriously working on my first novel and found the very few books were as interesting to me as what I was writing.
But I will follow my previous strategy of incorporating “was this book able to catch my interest in the first place?” as part of my evaluation, and will vote as long as I’ve read at least one of the pair.
3. KINGDOM THAT NEVER WAS, KINGDOM THAT NEVER WILL BE
Lost Burgundy, Mary Gentle
7. THE DROWNED ISLAND
Point of Dreams, Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett
15. PROPER PROPRIETY OR SENSUAL SADOMASOCHISM
Tooth and Claw, Jo Walton
16. ATTRACTION KNOWS NO RULES
Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold
You now know my shame!
Ooh, I get to post in a bracket!
2. Tower at Stony Wood
5. A Storm of Swords
8. Night Watch
10. Coraline
14. Sunshine
15. Kushiel’s Dart
I may or may not go back and find the books in the other brackets, to vote later on.
And another thing.
Did… did I read that comment threat on Black Gate correctly? Jay Maynard admitted he hadn’t read Ancillary Justice?
Oneiros –
I don’t think Cedar has read much Hoyt either. Not sure if her books are written in the same style but she has a story in the Big Book of Monsters Baen kindly included in the Hugo packet, and for a short story there’s semi-colons, a lot of dashes, and ‘…’. Not something I’m a fan of stylistically, or Wendig’s style for that matter. Having just read that Hoyt story I found Cedar’s rant interesting.
I read the Aftermath sample and didn’t care for it much either, but I don’t get where anyone got the idea that the author is saying you have to like it, or read it or buy it, so maybe I’m missing some context for her rant.
1. HORRIBLE THINGS IN THE BIG CITY
Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
I’m a massive Mieville fan. I’d give an honorable mention to Kraken as well, which although rushed is jampacked with ideas. (That’s not a write-in,Kyra, just a musing)
3. KINGDOM THAT NEVER WAS, KINGDOM THAT NEVER WILL BE
Ash: a secret history, Mary Gentle
I’ve never been quite sure if the framing story worked for this, but the Ash sections are magnificent.
4. EPIC STORIES
Ship of Destiny, Robin Hobb
5. CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR
A Storm of Swords, George R. R. Martin
I never got into Erikson, but people keep on trying to persuade me to try again.
6. SOMETHING IS HAPPENING HERE BUT YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS
Declare, Tim Powers
Powers all the way. The man is brilliant, and writes such different books. If you’ve tried one Powers and bounced, try another.
8. INEVITABLE MATCHUP
Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
My favorite watch story is Men At Arms, but I think that’s 90s so this will do.
9. BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS
The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
Such fun
10. THIS DOOR LEADS SOMEWHERE STRANGE
Coraline, Neil Gaiman
15. PROPER PROPRIETY OR SENSUAL SADOMASOCHISM
Tooth and Claw, Jo Walton
Would a Carey fan like to explain why I’m wrong about these, because I just couldn’t get anywhere with Kushiel. Anyway, Tooth and Claw is exceptional.
@Quinchan
If so, that puts him in the fine company of Hoyt and JCW who have both loudly condemned it without reading it. In Hoyt’s case I believe she read the Amazon sample and concluded it was a poor effort for a novice writer, and JCW condemns it purely on the basis of reviews.
HEAT ONE – DAWN OF A NEW MILLENIUM
1. HORRIBLE THINGS IN THE BIG CITY
Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
Something from the Nightside, Simon R. Green
2. THE TRUE QUEEN IN DISGUISE
The Bone Doll’s Twin, Lynn Flewelling
The Tower at Stony Wood, Patricia McKillip
3. KINGDOM THAT NEVER WAS, KINGDOM THAT NEVER WILL BE
Lost Burgundy, Mary Gentle
Bold As Love, Gwyneth Jones
Abstain
4. EPIC STORIES
The Salt Roads, Nalo Hopkinson
Ship of Destiny, Robin Hobb
Abstain
5. CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR
Deadhouse Gates, Steven Erikson
A Storm of Swords, George R. R. Martin
Abstain
6. SOMETHING IS HAPPENING HERE BUT YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS
The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque, Jeffrey Ford
Declare, Tim Powers
7. THE DROWNED ISLAND
Point of Dreams, Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett
Galveston, Sean Stewart
8. INEVITABLE MATCHUP
Day Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
9. BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS
The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon
10. THIS DOOR LEADS SOMEWHERE STRANGE
Coraline, Neil Gaiman
House of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
11. THE TERRIFYING COURTS OF THE FAE
Summer Knight, Jim Butcher
Tithe, Holly Black
No. Just, no.
12. RECOVERING FROM THE WORST
Fire Logic, Laurie J. Marks
White Apples, Jonathan Carroll
13. BEYOND THE GATES OF DEATH
Abhorsen, Garth Nix
The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
Abstain
14. VAMPIRES VS. WEREWOLVES
Sunshine, Robin McKinley
Bitten, Kelley Armstrong
15. PROPER PROPRIETY OR SENSUAL SADOMASOCHISM
Tooth and Claw, Jo Walton
Kushiel’s Dart, Jacqueline Carey
16. ATTRACTION KNOWS NO RULES
The Queen of Attolia, Megan Whalen Turner
Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold
Semicolons – how do they work?
You’ve just inadvertently moved Vandermeer up a couple feet on my TBR list (and given I read from a Kindle, that’s a lot of books).
Gonna get to the voting once I GOD STALK.
Mark, quoting Cedar Sanderson, quoting Chuck Wendig:
She seems to be conflating colons and semi-colons here. There’s one of each, which doesn’t seem like a whole lot.
Nick Mamatas: Your conventions have free Skittles???
HEAT ONE – DAWN OF A NEW MILLENIUM
1. HORRIBLE THINGS IN THE BIG CITY
Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
2. THE TRUE QUEEN IN DISGUISE
The Bone Doll’s Twin, Lynn Flewelling
3. KINGDOM THAT NEVER WAS, KINGDOM THAT NEVER WILL BE
Abstain
4. EPIC STORIES
Ship of Destiny, Robin Hobb
5. CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR
Deadhouse Gates, Steven Erikson
6. SOMETHING IS HAPPENING HERE BUT YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS
Declare, Tim Powers
7. THE DROWNED ISLAND
Galveston, Sean Stewart
8. INEVITABLE MATCHUP
Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
9. BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS
The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
10. THIS DOOR LEADS SOMEWHERE STRANGE
Coraline, Neil Gaiman
11. THE TERRIFYING COURTS OF THE FAE
Summer Knight, Jim Butcher
12. RECOVERING FROM THE WORST
Abstain
13. BEYOND THE GATES OF DEATH
The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
14. VAMPIRES VS. WEREWOLVES
Abstain
15. PROPER PROPRIETY OR SENSUAL SADOMASOCHISM
Kushiel’s Dart, Jacqueline Carey
16. ATTRACTION KNOWS NO RULES
Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold
I abstained if I haven’t read both books.
More books to catch up on! Yikes.
andyl: But 1610 was published more than ten years ago.
HEAT ONE – DAWN OF A NEW MILLENIUM.
My policy will be: if I’ve read only one of a pair, I can vote for it only if it’s SUPER good.
2. THE TRUE QUEEN IN DISGUISE
The Tower at Stony Wood, Patricia McKillip
6. SOMETHING IS HAPPENING HERE BUT YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS
Declare, Tim Powers
8. INEVITABLE MATCHUP
Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
10. THIS DOOR LEADS SOMEWHERE STRANGE
Coraline, Neil Gaiman
11. THE TERRIFYING COURTS OF THE FAE
Tithe, Holly Black
15. PROPER PROPRIETY OR SENSUAL SADOMASOCHISM
Tooth and Claw, Jo Walton
Damn, cutting out Carey hurt. But Tooth & Claw is such a favorite of mine … curse you, Dice of Doom™!
16. ATTRACTION KNOWS NO RULES
Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold
1. HORRIBLE THINGS IN THE BIG CITY
Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
2. THE TRUE QUEEN IN DISGUISE
The Tower at Stony Wood, Patricia McKillip
4. EPIC STORIES
The Salt Roads, Nalo Hopkinson
5. CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR
A Storm of Swords, George R. R. Martin
6. SOMETHING IS HAPPENING HERE BUT YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS
Declare, Tim Powers
7. THE DROWNED ISLAND
Galveston, Sean Stewart
8. INEVITABLE MATCHUP
Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
9. BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS
The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon
10. THIS DOOR LEADS SOMEWHERE STRANGE
Coraline, Neil Gaiman
11. THE TERRIFYING COURTS OF THE FAE
Tithe, Holly Black
12. RECOVERING FROM THE WORST
White Apples, Jonathan Carroll
14. VAMPIRES VS. WEREWOLVES
Sunshine, Robin McKinley
15. PROPER PROPRIETY OR SENSUAL SADOMASOCHISM
Kushiel’s Dart, Jacqueline Carey
16. ATTRACTION KNOWS NO RULES
Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold
@andyl I only came across it in the Clarke shortlists, but loved it. Classic Interzone-style SF that subverts itself with a shift into secondary world fantasy.
> “We could just run the brackets a day behind the current thread, so run two days of brackets in this one, then move on. That way people wishing to hit up only the days news can move on ahead of the invasion of the SHOUTY BOOK TITLES.”
An odd solution, but I actually kind of like it. It would make me feel less like I had to hit some kind of deadline on them, too.
@Matt Y
The conversation on MGC seems to reiterate that it’s all a particular bugaboo of theirs – the belief that Wendig has been rude/ insulting to his readers.
When pointed out that at least some of these reviews are on pretty shaky ground substantively speaking (ie pricing, teh gays, EU rendered non-canon etc), C Sanderson has clarified that she’s specifically referring to the quality of the writing. So that at least.
I’m not sure if the possibility that Wendig may be reacting to the more objectionable reviews has actually crossed their minds. Or it’s possible that they believe that regardless of that, you shouldn’t be critical/ rude/ insulting (it’s not clear to me if there is a distinction seen between these things there) of the people putting up Amazon reviews.
4. EPIC STORIES
The Salt Roads, Nalo Hopkinson
Ship of Destiny, Robin Hobb
Ship of Destiny (unfair vote but I love Hobb that much)
5. CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR
Deadhouse Gates, Steven Erikson
A Storm of Swords, George R. R. Martin
A Storm of Swords I like Erikson, but A Song of Ice and Fire is stronger and A Storm of Swords is the best of the books.
8. INEVITABLE MATCHUP
Day Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko
Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
Night Watch. Love Pratchett and coldn’t get into Day Watch
10. THIS DOOR LEADS SOMEWHERE STRANGE
Coraline, Neil Gaiman
House of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
Coraline (must still read the other one)
Won’t vote in the other ones beecause I have read Summer Knight and Kushiel’s Dart but I don’t feel strong enough about them that I vote them without reading their oponent.