April 2010

World in the Satin Bag

Haul of Books 2010: Stuff For Me v.1

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I’m rebooting the Haul of Books feature to show you all what I’ve been buying or getting in the mail (for review or otherwise). My hope is that you’ll at least find some interesting new reads to add to your own collection. Since I’m rebooting this, I am also changing the format. I’d appreciate comments on the format, if you can spare the minute or two to scribble something down at the bottom of this post. If you don’t like it or have suggestions, let me know! So, without further ado, here is the first of my Haul of Books posts for 2010:These books should seem familiar, because I talked about them very briefly here. I bought all of these (and a couple others to come later) at the Popular Culture and American Culture Association Conference in St. Louis earlier this month. Back cover information about the books, in order from left to right, top to bottom, follows (taken from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk): 1. Cyberculture, Cyborgs and Science Fiction: Consciousness and the Posthuman by William S. Haney II Addressing a key issue related to human nature, this book argues that the first-person experience of pure consciousness may soon be under threat from posthuman biotechnology. In exploiting the mind’s capacity for instrumental behavior, posthumanists seek to extend human experience by physically projecting the mind outward through the continuity of thought and the material world, as through telepresence and other forms of prosthetic enhancements. Posthumanism envisions a biology/machine symbiosis that will promote this extension, arguably at the expense of the natural tendency of the mind to move toward pure consciousness. As each chapter of this book contends, by forcibly overextending and thus jeopardizing the neurophysiology of consciousness, the posthuman condition could in the long term undermine human nature, defined as the effortless capacity for transcending the mind’s conceptual content. Presented here for the first time, the essential argument of this book is more than a warning; it gives a direction: far better to practice patience and develop pure consciousness and evolve into a higher human being than to fall prey to the Faustian temptations of biotechnological power. As argued throughout the book, each person must choose for him or herself between the technological extension of physical experience through mind, body and world on the one hand, and the natural powers of human consciousness on the other as a means to realize their ultimate vision. 2. Red Planets: Marxism and Science Fiction edited by Mark Bould and China Mieville Science fiction and socialism have always had a close relationship. Many of novelists and filmmakers are leftists. Others examine explicit or implicit Marxist concerns. As a genre, if is ideally suited to critiquing the present through its explorations of the social and political possibilities of the future. This is the first collection to combine analysis of science fiction literature and films within a broader overview of Marxist theorizations and critical perspectives on the genre. This is an accessible and lively introduction for anyone studying the politics of science fiction, covering a rich variety of examples from Weimar cinema to mainstream Hollywood films, and novelists from Jules Verne and H.G. Wells to Kim Stanley Robinson, Ken MacLeod and Charles Stross. 3. History, the Human, and the World Between by R. Radhakrishnan History, the Human, and the World Between is a philosophical investigation of the human subject and its simultaneous implication in multiple and often contradictory ways of knowing. The eminent postcolonial theorist R. Radhakrishnan argues that human subjectivity is always constituted “between”: between subjective and objective, temporality and historicity, being and knowing, the ethical and the political, nature and culture, the one and the many, identity and difference, experience and system. In this major study, he suggests that a reconstituted phenomenology has a crucial role to play in mediating between generic modes of knowledge production and an experiential return to life. Keenly appreciative of poststructuralist critiques of phenomenology, Radhakrishnan argues that there is still something profoundly vulnerable at stake in the practice of phenomenology. Radhakrishnan develops his rationale of the “between” through three linked essays where he locates the terms “world,” “history,” “human,” and “subject” between phenomenology and poststructuralism, and in the process sets forth a nuanced reading of the politics of a gendered postcolonial humanism. Critically juxtaposing the works of thinkers such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Adrienne Rich, Frantz Fanon, Edward Said, Michel Foucault, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Martin Heidegger, David Harvey, and Ranajit Guha, Radhakrishnan examines the relationship between systems of thought and their worldly situations. History, the Human, and the World Between is a powerful argument for a theoretical perspective that combines the existential urgency of phenomenology with the discursive rigor of poststructuralist practices. 4. Cylons in America: Critical Studies in Battlestar Galactica edited by Tiffany Potter and C. W. Marshall “Cylons in America” is the first collection of critical studies of Battlestar Galactica (its 2003 miniseries, and the ongoing 2004 television series), examining its place within popular culture and its engagement with contemporary American society. With its fourth season due to air in January 2008, the award-winning Battlestar Galactica continues to be exceptionally popular for non-network television, combining the familiar features of science fiction with direct commentary on life in mainstream America. “Cylons in America” is the first collection of critical studies of Battlestar Galactica (its 2003 miniseries, and the ongoing 2004 television series), examining its place within popular culture and its engagement with contemporary American society.Battlestar Galactica depicts the remnants of the human race fleeing across space from a robotic enemy called the Cylons. The fleet is protected by a single warship, the Battlestar, and is searching for a “lost colony” that settled on the legendary planet “Earth.” Originally a television series in the 1970s, the current series maintains the mythic sense established with the earlier quest narrative, but adds elements of hard science and aggressive engagement with post-9/11 American politics. “Cylons In America” casts a critical eye on the revived series and is sure to appeal to fans of the show,

World in the Satin Bag

Why SF/F Awards Are Meaningless To Me

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I used to care about the awards. Seeing “Hugo Award Winner” or “Winner of the Nebula Award” on a book used to excite me and make me want to pick something up and buy it. But not anymore. Things have changed. In the last year or so, I’ve sort of lost interest in the awards (most of them, anyway). The Hugos, Nebulas, and Locus Awards haven’t really made me excited about SF/F literature the way they used to. That’s not to say that I’m not excited about SF/F literature, just that the awards aren’t making me excited about particular works; those of you reading this are probably just as aware of my SF/F lit obsession as my closest friends. Adding to this, there are all these dozens of other awards (Clarke, PKD, Gemmell, and so on), and none of them seem to matter to me as a reader (as a writer is a different story). With James Long over at Speculative Horizons stirring up the controversy pot, I don’t feel particularly alone in the discussion of the value of SF/F awards. But what is it about the awards that I find meaningless? For starters, as a reader with only one brain in this head and one set of eyes, I can’t possibly read all the books and stories that are nominated for the various major awards. The result is that I feel completely out of the loop, as if somehow I missed the SF/F Cool Train and ended up on the SF/F Ghetto Express. I read a lot of great books, some of which have been nominated in the past, but the awards have a tendency to leave readers like me so far outside of the spectrum of recognition that I find it rather difficult to get excited about the vast majority of the stuff on the various nomination lists. Maybe that’s normal (the result and not so much the reason leading to it), and it’s likely something that can’t ever be resolved, regardless of whether an award is voted on by the public or given out by committee. Second, I get the feeling that the awards have been spread so thin by the Internet as to render them valueless. There are too many damned awards now, all with some level of prominence. There’s the Hugo, the Nebula, the Locus, the Gemmell, the Clarke, the PKD, the Sturgeon, the Tiptree, the Campbell, and dozens of smaller awards, nationality specific awards (these seem reasonable considering what they are for), genre specific awards, and so on, all of which have some notoriety, if not the same pull as the big three (Hugo, Nebula, and Locus, which aren’t really the big three anymore). The field is too full of these things (and I’m certainly contributing by hosting the WISB Awards here, the most useless awards ever). Who am I, as the reader, supposed to pay attention to? Why? Which awards matter? Which don’t? Which are there to highlight authors for readers, and which are there to highlight authors to fellow authors? I don’t know. Maybe someone that attends the ceremonies can; regardless, with so many awards, it’s difficult to determine their value. I’m sure there are other reasons swimming around in my head, but I’ll leave the ending open for discussion. Whether you agree or disagree, I’d like to know your opinion. Are awards valuable to you? Why or why not? Update: I mistakenly put Worldcon on the list, despite the reality that there is no such award. Worldcon is where the Hugos are presented. Thanks to Kevin Standlee for pointing that out.

World in the Satin Bag

Science Fiction and Fantasy in Airports

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As promised, I do have something interesting to point out about the presence of science fiction and fantasy in airports, and something that might be a good indicator of the power of books among travelers. First things first, I can honestly say that I’ve seen a significant increase in the number of book-specific shops in airports. I don’t know if this is national or international, but I’ve traveled a little bit over the last few years and I have noticed two things: 1) that there are more book-specific shops springing up all over the place, and 2) that some areas are insanely more book-friendly than others (St. Louis and Atlanta, for example, have a lot of book shops and places that carry books). But what is more interesting than this is how strong of a presence science fiction and fantasy have. When you walk into a book-specific shop, there is almost always a section specific to science fiction and fantasy (and a section for YA, which is usually loaded to the teeth with fantasy titles). Sometimes the section is quite small, and other times it’s about the same size as all of the other sections (non-fiction, general fiction, and so on). The only downside to this is that these shops have a tendency to carry very little in terms of new work, which means that many of these SF/F sections are more like the classic literature section that most of these places have. It’s unfortunate, but there must be a reason for it; you don’t carry old SF/F (as in classic SF/F) if you’re not selling it. This isn’t to say that these stores don’t carry newer titles; they do, but they typically only carry the more prominent new titles, such as works from various high-profile urban fantasy authors or big names in SF literature. But, what’s to complain about? They have SF/F in the bookstores in airports! Now that I’ve pointed out the more obvious aspects of SF/F’s presence in airports, I think it’s worth noting the much more hidden and telling presence: book sections within non-book-specific shops. While I was in St. Louis a few weeks back, I decided to check out this little tech shop (headphones, phones, DVDs, games, things like that–InMotion Entertainment, I think) in the airport and was surprised to discover that they had a book section that was not only SF/F friendly, but possibly one of the best SF/F book sections I have seen for the size (four shelves no more than three feet wide). What was so special about it? The titles they carried represented a wide range of unique titles you might not find in your local bookstore, and all of the books had gorgeous covers. They had, for example, Paul McAuley’s Gardens of the Sun:They had loads of other titles too, many of which I hadn’t heard of until then and most of which looked fascinating (yes, I’ve heard of McAuley’s work, but I didn’t write down the titles of all the others, and I’ve since forgotten them). I might have bought a book or two if I hadn’t already spent over $100 on books during the PCA/ACA conference. The selection was simply fantastic. If you wanted something new and a little less popcorn-y, then you’d have to go to this shop. The point of all of this is that airports are incredibly SF/F friendly. While the selection is not always the greatest (depending on the airport), there are almost always SF/F titles somewhere. I’m not sure what this says about our culture. These stores don’t carry SF/F if it doesn’t sell, so people must be requesting and buying the stuff. Do SF/F books make great travel reads in the same way that others genres have been for decades? Perhaps. What do you think?

World in the Satin Bag

Random Excerpt: The Lands of the Alger

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I had the pleasure of word warring1 with some folks from Young Writers Online the other day and I thought I’d share the 500-word bit that I wrote (it came out of nowhere). I’m calling it The Lands of the Alger for now, and I have no idea if it is going somewhere. All I know is that I had a blast writing it. If you’d like to comment, feel free. I’d love to hear all of your thoughts on this. Here goes: The towers of Alger stood for two thousand years against the bitter cold of the mountains beyond. Their shadows were cast as long, watchful beasts across the great valley below, and within the confines of the arched walls outside, one would be assured of safety from the barbarian hordes or the impending wars from the North and South, from the Bespectacled King and the Lords of the Olgen. And on a fine winter’s morning, when the air swung low, dragging a chill breeze that cleansed even the most terrible of colds and drove a spike of warmth, solitude, and wonder into the most staunch of hearts in memory of the thousands who had lived here among the tribes of the Alger, the small white and blue flowers of the Hegemon awoke from the snows and dispensed their glittering seeds into the world. Orin Dol stood along the gates at just such a moment, tears in his old eyes. He was covered head to toe in thick, tanned wool, which hid his wrinkled, decaying features from the trade caravans moving along the Alger River below. They were heading north, to the black lands where the Bespectacled King was awaiting his offering from the tribes of Irion, who he had finally achieved dominion over in a long, petty dispute over lands along the outer edge of the mountains. What fools, he thought. Fools indeed. Trading their lives to a king of lesser blood. His ancestors would never have done such a thing. It was unheard of until the Garion of Calin became High King of the tribes of the Alger and sold his soul to the devils. In olden days—so long ago now, as Orin recalled—the High King kept the borders stocked with warriors and the great walls of the ancestors manned and in prime shape—the repairs never ended. The lands of the Alger were not prized for their fertility, for the land was so arid in parts that even the hardiest crops could not grow, even with the aid of irrigation from the fertile lands beyond. The Bespectacled King and the Lords of the Olgen pried the lands of the Alger for the pure desire of ownership. There was a bloodlust in their eyes when they saw what new territories they could add to their coffers. Looking deep within the walled center, Orin could see that very look on the face of just such a lord—Lord Pinwaul of the southern lands. The young, vibrant looking man could have rivaled the Bespectacled King in garb, adorned from head to toe in pristine armor engrained with gold filigree—shaped like the monstrous orbax of the southern plains, a great beast with curled and spiked horns and eyes that bled steam—and a crimson cloak framed with the spotted fur of the snow leopards that once hunted in the upper tundra of the southernmost portions of the lands of the Alger—before the Lords of the Olgen wiped them out. That’s it! 1. A word war is a writing game which involves two or more people. The participants select a period of time (usually 10-15 minutes) and then, at the same time, do nothing but write for that amount of time. In the end, everyone counts up their words and the person with the most words wins. The object isn’t necessarily to win so much as write something. It’s also a great way to kick writer’s block (if you believe in such things).

World in the Satin Bag

PCA/ACA Conference: Day Five and Six (The End)

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Well, to wrap up my brief recap of the PCA/ACA conference, I have some general impressions, a discussion of a screening of the director’s cut of Aliens, a few more words about some panels I visited on the last day, and some new reading for the reading list! We’ll do it in that order. Also, I have a post in the works about the presence of science fiction and fantasy in airports, which clearly hinges off of this trip. Look forward to that in the next few days. Now, to the final days of the conference! The conference was pretty much all kinds of awesome. I learned a lot of amazing things and made some great contacts (professional and otherwise). Career-wise, I think this conference has been more influential than any of the others I have attended. I made contacts with two publishers who are working on two separate projects: McFarland and Intellect. The former has a running series of scholarly work on various aspects of science fiction and I may be submitting a proposal to them early next year (once I finish my MA). The publisher of that particular track ran a brief Q&A session where scholars could basically ask questions to the editors involved (very helpful indeed). The second is an academic journal publisher who primarily focuses on film, culture, and horror; the fellow who was there indicated to me, however, that they are trying to put together a science fiction journal (which would make the grand total of serious academic journals for SF to six: Foundation, Extrapolation, Science Fiction Studies, FemSpec, and Science Fiction and Television)–I brought his contact information to some of my professors at the University of Florida (apparently they’re working on building a science fiction track here, which is totally awesome). Additionally, I found out about two book projects that are looking for essays and I intend to submit to both! Beyond that, I had a blast hanging out with people and talking about science fiction and all sorts of other topics. I made some excellent new friends and I may propose a panel next year on ninjas (from an academic standpoint, obviously; yes, there is a lot to say about ninjas). We’ll see. Any emerging scholars out there might consider checking out the PCA/ACA conference next year, which will be in San Antonio, TX. It’ll a lot of fun! Now, for other things. The last night of the conference ended with a viewing of the director’s cut of Aliens, one of the best science fiction movies ever made. I’ve never seen this particular version, and it is certainly enjoyable to see (they added in a few scenes that give more context to the overall narrative, which definitely makes it better). The best part of going to a film screening like this, however, is being in a room full of like-minded fans. Why? Because when you’ve seen a movie like Aliens a few dozen times (or even once), some lines of dialogue in the early parts of the movie actually become quite comical. Take, for example, when Burke says he’ll keep Ripley safe and that they’re going to the colony to destroy, not collect; having seen the movie, you know that’s all a load of bullcrap, and when you’re in a room full of people who know this too, laughter ensues. You should try it. Best film screening ever! Moving on to the recap of the panels: –The most fascinating paper on the last day of the conference dealt with the interesting relationship of various characters to books/literacy in a wide-range of post-apocalyptic fiction. The presenter made an interesting argument that, in post-apocalyptic literature, books and other written mediums become a kind of survival mechanism (at least in some cases). Very interesting approach. –The last panel I saw was actually a roundtable on teaching horror films. I didn’t attend any pedagogical panels at the SWTXPCA conference in February, but I attended this one because it seemed more geared to my interests. I have no idea how I can work in a horror film in a composition course, but the advice they gave was excellent. We’ll see if I can work it out. Reading/Watching List:–Supernatural–Earth Abides–“The Long Emergency”–After London–The Edukators And that’s basically it. The sixth day mentioned in the title was actually my last day in St. Louis; the conference ended on day five. The trip back was pretty much uneventful, but somewhat depressing. I didn’t want to leave. I really enjoyed the conference and I hate going home knowing that so many of these fascinating people are floating out there in other places, inaccessible to immediate conversation. I hope I’ll have the opportunity to meet some of the same folks again in the future (I talk to a number of them online now, but that’s not the same). In any case, that’s all I have. So, back to regular programming! P.S.: I had my first ever Shepherd’s Pie at this conference and also experienced a tapas (small portion) restaurant. The former was pretty freaking good and the latter was tasty, but not quite worth the money; I am not tapas friendly.

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