The World in the Satin Bag

Crying "Censorship": Why Getting Banned Isn't Censorship

arconna@yahoo.com (Shaun Duke) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:00:03 PST

You'll probably have noticed that a lot of crazy nonsense took place here and then migrated over here when Jen and I put our feet in piranha-infested waters. This isn't the first time Jen and I have played emotional bees and frolicked in the convoluted mess of gender politics. But that's not really the point of this post. Rather, I'd like to use the aforementioned links as illustrative examples of my central point:

Deleting a comment or banning a commenter on a private website is not censorship.

Since Liz Bourke's original post, a number of people have almost joyously proclaimed they have been censored when they were banned from Tor.com (or would be banned from The Skiffy and Fanty Show -- one individual on Baen assumed we would delete anything he wrote simply because he would disagree with us; the comment is still there).

Neither of these things, however, constitute censorship, in part because private spaces have specialized rules which determine what can and cannot be said. If someone waltzes into your house and starts babbling at you about why Obama is a bad choice for President or Gingrich will repeal child labor laws, you have every right to remove that person from your home and prevent them from entering again. This act is defended by the U.S. Constitution, by our laws, and by our social codes. Few would call that censorship. A house is a private space, inside which you make the rules for interaction (provided they follow the rules from the outside -- no murdering in your house).

The same concept applies to websites that are privately owned or run.* Much like the privacy guaranteed in your home, you equally are guaranteed privacy on your website. That means that you are able to determine who can and cannot see your posts, who can and cannot comment, and so on. In fact, Google does much of this on its own by snagging spam comments from the aether and casting them to the dark abyss (the same with Wordpress, etc.). None of these acts are censorship, since nothing has been done to prevent you from being able to speak on the Internet. Provided you still have a place to speak, your rights have not been violated. You are entitled to your opinion and your voice, but not to a listening audience.

Censorship on the web, thus, is rather tricky. At what point does the removal of content become censorship? I'm not sure there are any easy answers to this question. Because the Internet is vast, if not nearly infinite, there are few boundaries to free speech in the U.S. The tables turn when you go to a place like China, where hackers serve as police officers against online dissent, where content from main sources are removed from Google's search database, and so on. Is that censorship?

I would argue that the distinction between personal space and censorship seems to follow this logic: so long as the avenues of discussion remain open, your rights have not been infringed; so long as websites themselves are subject to removal without reasonable cause,** you're looking at censorship.

This seems like a relatively simple concept to understand, but plenty of people cry "censorship" anyway. Perhaps they do so as an emotional reaction, or because they really believe that the 1st Amendment means you can say whatever you want wherever you want. The truth is that private spaces come with limitations and rules, many of them unspoken. Many websites don't have comment policies, running instead on the tolerance levels of the owners. Those tolerance levels will vary considerably.

In other words, think of your website as a digital house. If you have no problem letting anyone come in and say whatever they want, then good for you. But if you want to limit discussions or focus them, doing so in your own space means you're simply taking control of your house. And if we're being honest, most of us have house rules that we expect others to follow (and house rules we set for ourselves when we visit other people's homes). The difference between a house and the Internet, however, is that the Internet guarantees anonymity and/or distance. Bravery is necessarily an attending element.

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*I don't know whether censorship applies to government websites, though there aren't many government websites with comment threads, as far as I can remember.

**For example, I wouldn't consider the removal of a website that shares pirated files (not links, but files) as censorship, since free speech does not extend to violating the law.

SandF #84 (Women in Military SF (or The Kratman Rule is B.S.)) is Live!

arconna@yahoo.com (Shaun Duke) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:47:40 PST

I don't think we've had a potentially controversial episode on The Skiffy and Fanty Show in a while. But I think we've just solved that with #84. Here's the description:

Our first hard-hitting episode of the year is finally here. This week, we talk about the recent controversy at Tor.com over Liz Bourke's post about women in military SF, sexism, Joe Haldeman, David Weber, how science fiction might look at the "gender" question in the military, and much more. We're a little less PC, a whole lot more opinionated, and altogether our cheery selves.

Feel free to give it a listen and leave a comment with your thoughts. Really. Even if it's hate mail...

Video Found: Star Wars Uncut

arconna@yahoo.com (Shaun Duke) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 11:01:46 PST

I have no idea how I didn't know about the following video before now. Apparently a bunch of Star Wars nuts decided it would be hilarious to re-film Star Wars: A New Hope from start to finish. But they didn't stop there. No. Instead of the same group of people playing all the roles like those kids who did that shot-by-shot copy of Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark, these folks got dozens and dozens of people to film 15-second sections. And the segments aren't all live action either. There are cats (obviously), vacuum cleaners, legos, action figures, cartoons, and all kinds of other weird things, living or otherwise.

To put it bluntly: this is the greatest fan film ever made. And you must spend two hours of your life watching it...

SOPA and Piracy: A Brief and Random Afterthought

arconna@yahoo.com (Shaun Duke) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:16:28 PST

Google, Wikipedia, and all manner of folks have taken up the protest gauntlet against SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), a bill that, if passed, would hand over an extraordinary amount of power to the Federal government, restrict freedom of expression (the 1st Amendment), and make life for website creators and owners difficult at best. As the co-owner of a website for young writers, these things concern me greatly, as SOPA would make me responsible for what a member posts. That's not to say that Young Writers Online is a haven for plagiarized material, but it is an open website and things sneak through. The idea that the entire site should be taken down because I didn't find out soon enough is absurd. But SOPA makes that possible.

I won't proclaim to be an expert in this area. If you're looking for an expert, Cory Doctorow is probably the best choice. But I do find the direction the media empires behind laws like SOPA are trying to take us worrisome. I don't doubt that piracy is a financial problem, but I'm not convinced that the figures thrown at us by SOPA supporters are accurate or necessarily relevant.

What doesn't make sense to me is this: if piracy really is a problem to the extent that we're told (i.e., that if we don't stop it, the creative industry will go belly up), then clearly the pirates are doing something really well. Maybe instead of wasting millions trying to create and pass abusive laws like SOPA or crack down on pirates and websites, the media empires could take that money to do the following:

Create better content (let's be honest: most movies, TV shows, music, and books suck, and not necessarily because of personal taste)
Make that content easy to access, affordable, and unrestricted to a reasonable degree (i.e., if I buy a digital movie, I should be able to put it on anything I own within reason -- say 10 devices at a time or something).
Change the way copyright is enacted and enforced. In particular, I think we should move from region-specific copyrights, to a generalized "world" copyright for most forms of media. If not that, then at least all English-language materials should be accessible to everyone in English-language countries at the same time -- in every format. There's a lot more that could be said here, but I'll leave it at that.
Think of piracy as competition. You can't beat it by trying to stop it. You can only beat it by doing better.

I think #4 is the biggest issue here. The majority of the media empires haven't had any real competition in decades. Few of us can tell the difference between 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. based on what they produce (though certainly there are obvious differences between Disney and other studios), so it's not as if any of these companies can reasonably assert that they make a better product. Movie studios aren't like different brands of chocolate. And while these empires have been battling against one another in a futile battle of "who can make the better selling movie/book/etc.," pirates have been coming up with unique ways to share things. In the process, they've left a lot of tools behind, which indie creators, software companies, and so on have used to create entire new industries, forms, and so on.

That's competition. Just because it's not based in profits (with rare exception) doesn't mean it's not competition. The only way to deal with competitors is beat them at their own game. Sadly, most of the media empires aren't doing that. They're trying to find an easy way around the problem. Easy ways out always produce unexpected results, and damaging the Constitution is not a worthwhile unexpected result.

Ever.

SandF Ep. 83 (An Interview w/ James L. Sutter) is Live!

arconna@yahoo.com (Shaun Duke) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:49:00 PST

You'll notice that the darned numbers changed again. This is the last time. Seriously. From this point on, the bloody numbers will only get bigger. No more decimals. No more starting over. Just...growth.

In any case, this episode is obviously an interview with James L. Sutter, author of Death's Heretic and editor at Paizo Publishing. We cover a wide range of topics, some of them of interest to you writer-ly types, and others of interest to those who appreciate our "digging to the heart" method for interviews.

Feel free to give the episode a listen here.

The Bad Bully Review(er) Manifesto (or, Why Negative Reviews Are Good)

arconna@yahoo.com (Shaun Duke) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 10:51:31 PST

If you haven't heard or seen it yet, the proverbial shit hit the SF/F-community-fan today on this Strange Horizons review of Michael J. Sullivan's Theft of Swords.* Not just any shit, mind you, but a rather familiar kind of excrement that makes the SF/F world an amusing and altogether strange place. The short version:

Liz Bourke wrote a scathing review of Sullivan's novel (technically two novels packed into one), in which she derided the book for weak prose, inaccurate use of Early Modern English, plot and character inequities, and the frequency of weak female characters. In response, a number of people left comments assaulting Bourke in one of two ways: 1) rejecting Bourke's criticism as patently bunk, and 2) launching accusations at Bourke herself. (There were other reactions too, but you should read the comments to get the full picture.)

The result? A long dialogue about the value of negative reviews, what constitutes "being mean," and similar themes we've seen before.

The review/comments also inspired this post by Adrian Faulkner about why bullying reviews are bad news indeed, from which the following gem-of-a-quote comes from:

I don’t know what happened to make some of these reviewers so bitter. Jealousy of the author’s success, a misguided thought that this will make a name for themselves? I wouldn’t accept racism, homophobia or anti-Semitism in a review, so why should I accept bullying? Surely, in the 21st century, we’re better than that? It genuinely shocks me that the genre community believes that type of behaviour is acceptable in this day and age.

Seriously, people, it’s not hard to write an honest review!

Hard, indeed. So hard, in fact, that it must be difficult to find said honesty in a negative review. Clearly a spirited reviewer like Bourke must be lying for cheap shocks, lambasting Sullivan because he just so happens to be the random victim of the week. And by lying, Bourke clearly has put herself in league with racists, homophobes, and anti-Semites. Why not neo-Nazis, the Westboro Baptist Church, Rick Santorum, and the British National Party too?**

Or perhaps not. What all of this seems to point to is a public devaluation of actual honest criticism. We have grown used to -- in this community, at least -- a misdirected honesty. Too little attention has been given to the full picture, one which has, on the one side, the good and the beautiful, and, on the other side, the bad and the ugly. You can imagine which side isn't getting its fair shake.

But negative reviews are not only fascinating, but crucial. As a writer who occasionally workshops his fiction, I know how important it is to be told honestly when something doesn't work. That usually means having to accept harsh criticism not unlike what Bourke wrote in her review. Someone who only tells me good things, or refuses to tear my work to pieces where it needs such treatment, is useless. Likewise, a reviewer who cannot write negative reviews is less a reviewer than a slave to publicity. We have to be able to tell people when we don't like something, just as we have to be able to tell people when we do. And we should have free reign -- minus those spaces where libel might be committed -- to explore the "why." Negative reviews are a way to remind the public, authors, and publishers about the standards expected of publication.*** The fewer negative reviews available where they belong, the more likely it is that bad books will continue to be published.****

None of that makes a reviewer a "bully." To make that assessment is to expose a woeful ignorance of how bullies operate.***** Bullies don't stop at criticizing the "behavior" that you make public for consumption. Rather, bullies seek to inflict personal damage, physical and emotional, assaulting you where you should feel safe. They're opportunistic predators.

Is Liz Bourke a bully? Not by a long shot. Passionate and brutally honest? You bet. But very little of her review could be misconstrued as a personal attack against Mr. Sullivan, and those elements which some have taken to be "bully behavior" might be better called "hyperbolic criticism." Her review does what some of the best reviews do: provide solid evidence, passion, and personality. To question her argument because you disagree with her tone, her method, or her chosen "target" says more about your personal investment in fandom than the quality of Bourke as a critic. Nor does launching personal attacks against someone you accuse of the same activity useful to your cause. Rank hypocrisy is a one-way-street, as it were.

Whatever we think of reviews, good and bad, they must be honest and they must provide sound reasoning, even if we still disagree with them in the end. They should not, however, be held to Adrian Faulkner's standard:

The best reviews create debate about the thing they are reviewing, the worst create debate about the review.

Holding the value of a review to the whims of human reaction is not unlike deciding drunk driving by whether someone crashes their car. Then again, there are probably better analogies for this...

What do you all think about negative reviews?

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*For the record, I have had two reviews published in Strange Horizons: Tron: Legacy (Adam Roberts disagreed with me here) and Bricks by Leon Jenner (no thoughts whatsoever).
**Look these folks up if you have no idea who I'm talking about.
***When I say negative reviews, I don't mean one-line rants, as is common on the Internet.
****I have not read Sullivan's work, though we are interviewing him for The Skiffy and Fanty Show next month, which will require me to read his work. Bourke's review will have little influence on my take, as my reading standards are understandably different. Personally, I can let go and enjoy a fluffy book. Don't take my word for it, though. Read my reviews in the last year or so. Don't go farther than that, though. The deeper into the archive you go, the worse my reviews become. I've come a long way...
*****I have personal experience with bullies. I spent most of my youth struggling to grow taller than 4'11, which made me a perfect target for the bully crowd. Lots of punching and psychological abuse. Maybe I'll tell you all about it some time.

Haul of Books 2012: Books Received Vol. 1 (Post-Christmas Edition)

arconna@yahoo.com (Shaun Duke) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:17:04 PST

Everything you see below are books (and a movie) I got over Christmas, whether as presents or through spending my Christmas money. Needless to say, I bought a lot of stuff.

Before you check out the books, though, I've got a few questions:

What did you get for Christmas (or your particular winter holiday)?
Which of the following books sound interesting to you?

Feel free to leave a comment with your answers.

Here goes (warning: there's a lot of stuff in this post):

Mendoza in Hollywood by Kage Baker (Eos)

This is the third novel in what has become one of the most popular series in contemporary SF, now back in print from Tor. In the 24th century, the Company preserves works of art and extinct forms of life, for profit, of course. It recruits orphans from the past, renders them all but immortal, and trains them to serve the Company, Dr. Zeus. One of these is Mendoza the botanist. The death of her lover has been followed by centuries of heartbreak. She spends a period of time in early twentieth century Hollywood in the days of D.W. Griffith, and then Mendoza is in the midst of the Civil War, and runs into a man that looks disturbingly similar to her lost love. She is about to find love again, and be in more trouble than she could ever have imagined.

Synecdoche, New York directed by Charlie Kaufman (Sony Pictures Classics)

From Charlie Kaufman, comes a visual and philosophic adventure, Synechdoche, New York. As he did with his groundbreaking scripts for Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Kaufman twists and subverts form and language as he delves into the mind of a man who, obsessed with his own mortality, sets out to construct a massive artistic enterprise that could give some meaning to his life. Theater director Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is mounting a new play. His life catering to suburban blue-hairs at the local regional theater in Schenectady, New York is looking bleak. His wife Adele (Catherine Keener) has left him to pursue her painting in Berlin, taking their young daughter Olive with her. His therapist, Madeleine Gravis (Hope Davis), is better at plugging her best-seller than she is at counseling him. A new relationship with the alluringly candid Hazel (Samantha Morton) has prematurely run aground. And a mysterious condition is systematically shutting down each of his autonomic functions, one by one. Worried about the transience of his life, he leaves his home behind. He gathers an ensemble cast into a warehouse in New York City, hoping to create a work of brutal honesty. He directs them in a celebration of the mundane, instructing each to live out their constructed lives in a growing mockup of the city outside. The years rapidly fold into each other, and Caden buries himself deeper into his masterpiece, but the textured tangle of real and theatrical relationships blurs the line between the world of the play and that of Caden's own deteriorating reality.

Slow River by Nicola Griffith (Del Rey)

She awoke in an alley to the splash of rain. She was naked, a foot-long gash in her back was still bleeding, and her identity implant was gone. Lore Van Oesterling had been the daughter of one of the world's most powerful families...and now she was nobody, and she had to hide.

Then out of the rain walked Spanner, predator and thief, who took her in, cared for her wound, and taught her how to reinvent herself again and again. No one could find Lore now: not the police, not her family, and not the kidnappers who had left her in that alley to die. She had escaped...but the cost of her newfound freedom was crime and deception, and she paid it over and over again, until she had become someone she loathed.

Lore had a choice: She could stay in the shadows, stay with Spanner...and risk losing herself forever. Or she could leave Spanner and find herself again by becoming someone else: stealing the identity implant of a dead woman, taking over her life, and creating a new future.

But to start again, Lore required Spanner's talents--Spanner, who needed her and hated her, and who always had a price. And even as Lore agreed to play Spanner's game one final time, she found that there was still the price of being a Van Oesterling to be paid. Only by confronting her family, her past, and her own demons could Lore meld together who she had once been, who she had become, and the person she intended to be...

A Practical Guide to Racism by C. H. Dalton (Gotham Books)

A look at the races of the world by a lovable bigot, capturing the proud history and bright future of racism in one handy, authoritative, and deeply offensive volume!

Meet “C. H. Dalton,” a professor of racialist studies and an expert on inferior people of all ethnicities, genders, religions, and sexual preferences. Presenting evidence that everyone should be hated, A Practical Guide to Racism contains sparkling bits of wisdom on such subjects as:

The good life enjoyed by blacks, who shuffle through life unhindered by the white man’s burdens, to become accomplished athletes, rhyme smiths, and dominoes champions

The sad story of the industrious, intelligent Jews, whose entire reputation is sullied by their taste for the blood of Christian babies

A close look at the bizarre, sweet-smelling race known as “women,” who are not very good at anything—especially ruling the free world

A crucial manual to Arabs, a people so sensitive they are liable to blow up at any time. Literally.

Including a comprehensive glossary of timeless epithets, with hundreds of pejorative words for everyone from Phoenicians to Jews, A Practical Guide to Racism is an essential field guide for our multicultural world.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead Books)

After more than 189 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list for The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini returns with a beautiful, riveting, and haunting novel that confirms his place as one of the most important literary writers today.

Propelled by the same superb instinct for storytelling that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once an incredible chronicle of thirty years of Afghan history and a deeply moving story of family, friendship, faith, and the salvation to be found in love.

Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them-in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul-they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation. With heart-wrenching power and suspense, Hosseini shows how a woman's love for her family can move her to shocking and heroic acts of self-sacrifice, and that in the end it is love, or even the memory of love, that is often the key to survival.

A stunning accomplishment, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a haunting, heartbreaking, compelling story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love .

The Good Husband of Zebra Drive by Alexander McCall Smith (Anchor Books)

In the life of Precious Ramotswe–a woman duly proud of her fine traditional build–there is rarely a dull moment, and in the latest installment in the universally beloved No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series there is much happening on Zebra Drive and Tlokweng Road. Mma Ramotswe is experiencing staffing difficulties. First Mr. J.L.B. Mate-koni asks to be put in charge of a case involving an errant husband. But can a man investigate such matters as successfully as the number one lady detective can? Then she has a minor falling-out with her assistant, Mma Makutsi, who decides to leave the agency, taking the 97 percent she received on her typing final from the Botswana Secretarial College with her.

Along the way, Mma Ramotswe is asked to investigate a couple of tricky cases. Will she be able to explain an unexpected series of deaths at the hospital in Mochudi? And what about the missing office supplies at a local printing company? These are the types of questions that she is uniquely well suited to answer.

In the end, whatever happens, Mma Ramotswe knows she can count on Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, who stands for all that is solid and true in a shifting world. And there is always her love for Botswana, a country of which she is justifiably proud.

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (Perennial Classics)

One of the most important works of twentieth-century American literature, Zora Neale Hurston's beloved 1937 classic, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is an enduring Southern love story sparkling with wit, beauty, and heartfelt wisdom. Told in the captivating voice of a woman who refuses to live in sorrow, bitterness, fear, or foolish romantic dreams, it is the story of fair-skinned, fiercely independent Janie Crawford, and her evolving selfhood through three marriages and a life marked by poverty, trials, and purpose. A true literary wonder, Hurston's masterwork remains as relevant and affecting today as when it was first published -- perhaps the most widely read and highly regarded novel in the entire canon of African American literature.

All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (Vintage)

Now a major motion picture from Columbia Pictures starring Matt Damon, produced by Mike Nichols, and directed by Billy Bob Thornton.

The national bestseller and the first volume in Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy, All the Pretty Horses is the tale of John Grady Cole, who at sixteen finds himself at the end of a long line of Texas ranchers, cut off from the only life he has ever imagined for himself. With two companions, he sets off for Mexico on a sometimes idyllic, sometimes comic journey to a place where dreams are paid for in blood. Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction.

The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks (Night Shade Books)

It is 4034 AD. Humanity has made it to the stars. Fassin Taak, a Slow Seer at the Court of the Nasqueron Dwellers, will be fortunate if he makes it to the end of the year. The Nasqueron Dwellers inhabit a gas giant on the outskirts of the galaxy, in a system awaiting its wormhole connection to the rest of civilization. In the meantime, they are dismissed as decadents living in a state of highly developed barbarism, hoarding data without order, hunting their own young and fighting pointless formal wars. Seconded to a military-religious order he's barely heard of - part of the baroque hierarchy of the Mercatoria, the latest galactic hegemony - Fassin Taak has to travel again amongst the Dwellers. He is in search of a secret hidden for half a billion years. But with each day that passes a war draws closer - a war that threatens to overwhelm everything and everyone he's ever known.

Man Faces Extra-Terrestrial Life in Contact edited by Noel Keyes (Paperback Library)

We may not longer be alone in the universe -- perhaps we never have been...

The ultimate possibility -- that life exists beyond Earth -- is no longer a fantasy but the subject of scientific experimentation. Humans and extra-terrestrials beings may be making contact today -- certainly tomorrow.

The first, explosive, grappling instant encounter between Man and Alien is the subject of this extraodrinary journey of man's imagination into the unknown, by the masters of Science Fiction: Ray Bradbury, Harry Walton, Robert Sheckley, Murray Leinster, Ian Williamson, Howard Koch, Fredric Brown, Fritz Leiber, Peter Philips, Howard Fast, Clifford D. Simak, and Isaac Asimov.

The Jewels of Aptor by Samuel R. Delany (Ace)

One of the most universally acclaimed first novels in science fiction--by the man who become one of the most stellar writers in the genre's history. On the orders of Argo, the White Goddess, an itinerant poet and his three companions journey to the island of Aptor. Their mission: to seize a jewel from the dark god Hama and bring it back home. With this precious stone Argo may defeat the malign forces gathered against her and the land of Leptor. But, as the group presses deep into the enigmatic heart of Aptor, easy distinctions between good and evil blur, and somehow the task seems less straightforward. For Argo already owns two of the jewels, and possession of the third would give her unqualified power.

And, as the four friends already know, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Only Revolutions by Mark Z. Danielewski (Pantheon)

Sam: They were with us before Romeo & Juliet. And long after too. Because they’re forever around. Or so both claim, carolling gleefully: We’re allways sixteen. Sam & Hailey, powered by an ever-rotating fleet of cars, from Model T to Lincoln Continental, career from the Civil War to the Cold War, barrelling down through the Appalachians, up the Mississippi River, across the Badlands, finally cutting a nation in half as they try to outrace History itself. By turns beguiling and gripping, finally worldwrecking, Only Revolutions is unlike anything ever published before, a remarkable feat of heart and intellect, moving us with the journey of two kids, perpetually of summer, perpetually sixteen, who give up everything except each other.

Hailey: They were with us before Tristan & Isolde. And long after too. Because they’re forever around. Or so both claim, gleefully carolling: We’re allways sixteen. Hailey & Sam, powered by an ever-rotating fleet of cars, from Shelby Mustang to Sumover Linx, careen from the Civil Rights Movement to the Iraq War, tearing down to New Orleans, up the Mississippi River, across Montana, finally cutting a nation in half as they try to outrace History itself. By turns enticing and exhilarating, finally breathtaking, Only Revolutions is unlike anything ever conceived before, a remarkable feat of heart and intellect, moving us with the journey of two kids, perpetually of summer, perpetually sixteen, who give up everything except each other.

Alone Against Tomorrow by Harlan Ellison (MacMillan)

Third printing (1976) paperback. This is a 1971 collection of stories from this winner of more awards for imaginative literature than any other living author - including multiple Hugos, Nebulas and Edgars. CONTENTS: Introduction: The Song of the Soul (1970); I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (1967); The Discarded (1959); Deeper Than the Darkness (1957); Blind Lightning (1956); All the Sounds of Fear (1962); The Silver Corridor (1956); "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman (1965); Bright Eyes (1965); Are You Listening? (1958); Try a Dull Knife (1968); In Lonely Lands (1959); Eyes of Dust (1959); Nothing for My Noon Meal (1958); O Ye of Little Faith (1968); The Time of the Eye (1959); Life Hutch (1956); The Very Last Day of a Good Woman (1958); Night Vigil (1957); Lonelyache (1964); Pennies, Off a Dead Man's Eyes (1969).

Viewpoints Critical by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. (Tor)

This is the first story collection ever from bestselling fantasy and science fiction writer L. E. Modesitt, Jr. Modesitt began publishing short fiction in the SF magazines in the 1970s, and this collection includes a selection of stories from the whole of his career. Some of the early stories are kernels for his early SF novels, others display the wide range of his talents and interests, from satire to military adventure.

This book also contains three new stories that have never been published before: “Black Ordermage,” set in Modesitt’s bestselling Recluce series; “Beyond the Obvious Wind,” set in his Corean Chronicles universe; and “Always Outside the Lines,” which is related to the Ghost of Columbia books. Viewpoints Critical is an excellent introduction to the work of one of the major SF and fantasy writers publishing today.

Book of Secrets by Chris Roberson (Angry Robot Books)

IT'LL TAKE MORE THAN ANGELS AND DEMONS TO STOP HIM.

Reporter Spencer Finch is a journalist embroiled in the hunt for a missing book, encountering along the way cat burglars and mobsters, hackers and mysterious monks. At the same time, he's trying to make sense of the legacy left him by his late grandfather, a chest of what appear to be pulp magazines from the golden age of fantasy fiction. Following his nose, Finch gradually uncovers a mystery involving a lost Greek play, secret societies, generations of masked vigilantes - and an entire hidden history of mankind. It's like The Da Vinci Code retold by the Coen brothers in this blockbuster blur.

The World House by Guy Adams (Angry Robot Books)

Combining the puzzle box of Hellraiser with the explorartion of Tad Williams' Otherland series, this is the perfect blend of fantasy and adventure, an exceptional modern fantasy debut.

THERE IS A BOX. INSIDE THAT BOX IS A DOOR. AND BEYOND THAT DOOR IS A WHOLE WORLD.

In some rooms, forests grow. In others, animals and objects come to life. Elsewhere, secrets and treasures wait for the brave and foolhardy.

And at the very top of the house, a prisoner sits behind a locked door waiting for a key to turn. The day that happens, the world will end...

Reality 36 by Guy Haley (Angry Robot Books)

SOMETHING IS AMISS IN THE RENEGADE DIGITAL REALM OF REALITY 36. Richards - a Level 5 AI with a PI fetish - and his partner, a decommissioned German military cyborg, are on the trail of a murderer, but the killer has hidden inside an artificial reality. Richards and Klein must stop him before he becomes a god - for the good of all the realms.

The Bookman by Lavie Tidhar (Angry Robot Books)

LATE EXTRA! BOMB OUTRAGE IN LONDON!

A masked terrorist has brought London to its knees -- there are bombs inside books, and nobody knows which ones. On the day of the launch of the first expedition to Mars, by giant cannon, he outdoes himself with an audacious attack.

For young poet Orphan, trapped in the screaming audience, it seems his destiny is entwined with that of the shadowy terrorist, but how? His quest to uncover the truth takes him from the hidden catacombs of London on the brink of revolution, through pirate-infested seas, to the mysterious island that may hold the secret to the origin not only of the shadowy Bookman, but of Orphan himself...

Like a steam-powered take on V for Vendetta, rich with satire and slashed through with automatons, giant lizards, pirates, airships and wild adventure. The Bookman is the first of a series.

City of Dreams and Nightmare by Ian Whates (Angry Robot Books)

THEY CALL IT "THE CITY OF A HUNDRED ROWS".

City of Dreams & Nightmare is the first in a series of novels set in one of the most extraordinary fantasy settings since Gormenghast - the ancient vertical city of Thaiburley. From its towering palatial heights to the dregs who dwell in The City Below, this is a vast, multi-tiered metropolis, and demons are said to dwell in the Upper Heights...

Having witnessed a murder in a part of the city he should never have been in, street thief Tom has to run for his life. Down through the vast city he is pursued by sky-borne assassins, sinister Kite Guards, and agents of a darker force intent on destabilising the whole city. Accused of the crime, he must use all of his knowledge of this ancient city to flee a certain death; his only ally is Kat, a renegade like him, but she has secrets of her own...

Embedded by Dan Abnett (Angry Robot Books)

HE'D DO ANYTHING TO GET A STORY. When journalist Lex Falk gets himself chipped into the brain of a combat soldier, he thinks he has the ultimate scoop - a report from the forbidden front line of a distant planetary war, live to the living rooms of Earth. When the soldier is killed, however, Lex has to take over the body and somehow get himself back to safety once more... broadcasting all the way.

Heart-stopping combat science fiction from the million-selling Warhammer 40,000 author.

Nemesis Worm by Guy Haley (Angry Robot Books)

A standalone novella featuring the 22nd century's greatest detectives, The Nemesis Worm sees Richards & Klein involved in another high stakes investigation. Corpses are showing up all over Old London, and the finger of suspicion points right at Richards himself. Forced to clear his name, Richards and Otto uncover a fanatical group whose actions threaten the relationship between human and AI with destruction.

Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks (Orbit)

For Durzo Blint, assassination is an art-and he is the city's most accomplished artist.

For Azoth, survival is precarious. Something you never take for granted. As a guild rat, he's grown up in the slums, and learned to judge people quickly - and to take risks. Risks like apprenticing himself to Durzo Blint.

But to be accepted, Azoth must turn his back on his old life and embrace a new identity and name. As Kylar Stern, he must learn to navigate the assassins' world of dangerous politics and strange magics - and cultivate a flair for death.

Child of Fire by Harry Connolly (Random House)

Ray Lilly is living on borrowed time. He's the driver for Annalise Powliss, a high-ranking member of the Twenty Palace Society, a group of sorcerers devoted to hunting down and executing rogue magicians. But because Ray betrayed her once, Annalise is looking for an excuse to kill him-or let someone else do the job.

Unfortunately for both of them, Annalise's next mission goes wrong, leaving her critically injured. With the little magic he controls, Ray must complete her assignment alone. Not only does he have to stop a sorcerer who's sacrificing dozens of innocent lives in exchange for supernatural power, he must find-and destroy-the source of that inhuman magic.

Child of Fire was named to Publishers Weekly's list of Best 100 Books of 2009.

Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb (HarperCollins)

Nevare Burvelle was destined from birth to be a soldier. The second son of a newly anointed nobleman, he must endure the rigors of military training at the elite King's Cavella Academy—and survive the hatred, cruelty, and derision of his aristocratic classmates—before joining the King of Gernia's brutal campaign of territorial expansion. The life chosen for him will be fraught with hardship, for he must ultimately face a forest-dwelling folk who will not submit easily to a king's tyranny. And they possess an ancient magic their would-be conquerors have long discounted—a powerful sorcery that threatens to claim Nevare Burvelle's soul and devastate his world once the Dark Evening brings the carnival to Old Thares.

Rides a Dread Legion by Raymond E. Feist (HarperCollins)

The remnants of the Clan of the Seven Stars are returning to their long abandoned homeworld . . . but not as friends. The elves, led by the conjurer Laromendis, flee the relentless demon hordes sweeping through their galaxy—and the conquest of war-weary Midkemia is the Clan's sole hope for survival . . . if the Dread Legion does not pursue them through the rift.

The magician Pug knows what horrors will surely follow the elven invasion, for slaughter alone will sate Demon King Maarg's minions. For the death tide to be turned, Midkemia's constant defender must somehow unite bitter foes and vengeful former lovers—because failure to do so will mean annihilation.

Den of Thieves by David Chandler (HarperCollins)

Born and raised in the squalid depths of the Free City of Ness, Malden became a thief by necessity. Now he must pay a fortune to join the criminal operation of Cutbill, lord of the underworld—and one does not refuse the master . . . and live.

The coronet of the Burgrave would fulfill Malden’s obligations, though it is guarded by hungry demons that would tear the soul from any interloper. But the desperate endeavor leads to a more terrible destiny, as Malden, an outlaw knight, and an ensorcelled lady must face the most terrifying evil in the land.

Heir of Night by Helen Lowe (HarperCollins)

If Night falls, all fall . . .

In the far north of the world of Haarth lies the bitter mountain range known as the Wall of Night. Garrisoned by the Nine Houses of the Derai, the Wall is the final bastion between the peoples of Haarth and the Swarm of Dark—which the Derai have been fighting across worlds and time.

Malian, Heir to the House of Night, knows the history of her people: the unending war with the Darkswarm; the legendary heroes, blazing with long-lost power; the internal strife that has fractured the Derai's former strength. But now the Darkswarm is rising again, and Malian's destiny as Heir of Night is bound inextricably to both ancient legend and any future the Derai—or Haarth—may have.

Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey (HarperCollins)

Life sucks, then you die. Period.

Unless you're James Stark, a hitman in Hell for eleven years before escaping back up to Hell-on-earth L.A.—looking for revenge, absolution . . . love, maybe.

But Hell's not through with Stark.Heaven's not either.

Earth Strike by Ian Douglas (HarperCollins)

The first book in the epic saga of humankind's war of transcendence

There is a milestone in the evolution of every sentient race, a Tech Singularity Event, when the species achieves transcendence through its technological advances. Now the creatures known as humans are near this momentous turning point.

But an armed threat is approaching from deepest space, determined to prevent humankind from crossing over that boundary—by total annihilation if necessary.

To the Sh'daar, the driving technologies of transcendent change are anathema and must be obliterated from the universe—along with those who would employ them. As their great warships destroy everything in their path en route to the Sol system, the human Confederation government falls into dangerous disarray. There is but one hope, and it rests with a rogue Navy Admiral, commander of the kilometer-long star carrier America, as he leads his courageous fighters deep into enemy space towards humankind's greatest conflict—and quite possibly its last.

And there you go! Phew...

SandF Episode 3 (Torture Cinema Meets Twilight) is Live!

arconna@yahoo.com (Shaun Duke) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:25:05 PST

(We're playing catch-up right now, which should explain why there have been two episodes this week. There was no episode last week. Regular schedule shall resume next week!)

The newest episode over at The Skiffy and Fanty Show is a little obvious from the tile: a long and intoxicated review of one of the worst films ever made -- Twilight.

If you're up for hearing Jen and I babble about the good and the bad of the "vampire epic," then you should stream or download the episode here.

Ponce de Leon vs. Native Americans: Who is happier?

arconna@yahoo.com (Shaun Duke) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:51:03 PST

I recently came across this announcement of the University of Miami's 500th Anniversary commemoration for Ponce de Leon's voyages to Florida. Since I am currently teaching a course entitled "Writing About Postcolonialism and Genre Fiction" (which I'll have to discuss in detail later), the event caught my attention. Why? Because the language used to describe the event seems, in my view, offensive towards those who were inevitable victims of Spanish, British, French, and American colonialism (in de Leon's case, we're obviously talking about the first).

Those victims -- we call them Native Americans, which is a pathetic term to describe the enormous variety of tribes/groups that used to live freely in the U.S. hundreds of years ago -- were stripped of their lands, destroyed by colonial hands or disease, and otherwise decimated by the colonial system. So to talk about Ponce de Leon, an understandably famous explorer, within the language of celebration ("A public conference commemorating the five hundredth anniversary of the landing of Juan Ponce de León on Florida shores" -- commemoration associated, more often
than not, with ceremony, memorial, and remembrance) is to privilege the imperial center (Anne McClintock's term from "The Angel of Progress") over the voices of the natives who survived him.

While it's true that many of the talks have to do with the interactions of Ponce de Leon, the Spanish Empire, and the Native Americans (though too many use the derogatory term "Indians"), such talks are still held under the rubric of the celebration which speaks not of Natives in its title and description, but of those things which are the domain of the colonizer.

When will we get a major "commemoration" which privileges indigenous voices in relation to the famous explorers who led to their near-extinction? Perhaps we should have "Florida at the Crossroads: Five Hundred Years of Native Encounters, Conflicts, and Exchanges" instead of "Florida at the Crossroads: Five Hundred Years of Encounters, Conflicts, and Exchanges" followed by a reminder that this is all about Ponce de Leon's 500th anniversary...

Then again, I'm one of those crazy liberal people.

SandF Season Three, Ep. 1 (Anticipating 2012 in Our Rockets of Doom) is Live!

arconna@yahoo.com (Shaun Duke) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:51:02 PST

The first episode of the third season takes us back to a normal numbering system and a long and arduous discussion of our most anticipated 2012 SF/F/H movies, TV shows, and books.

You can check out the episode here, and you're more than welcome to leave a comment below or at The Skiffy and Fanty Show webpage with your 2012 selections too!

The Black Santa Chronicles (or, Why Size Really Matters)

arconna@yahoo.com (Shaun Duke) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 15:25:01 PST

This is the story of Black Santa and his wife, Black Santa's Wife. They also go by Black Father Christmas and Black Father Christmas' Wife (I assume the missus has a proper name or title of her own, but I can't find it).

Don't they look like a happy couple? Well, perhaps not, but that may have more to do with my brother's photography skills and subject placement than anything else. Still, with that bushy beard and the beautiful purples and pinks and those adorable gold wings, you'd think they'd be a happy couple (unless, of course, that additional statue in the background is there to imply that Black Santa is, in fact, an unfaithful jerk; but that would be too easy a stereotype, now wouldn't it?).

Now let's bring White Santa into the picture, shall we?

Wait a tick...is White Santa really that much taller and larger than Black Santa? Yes, he is. And while I would love to think this is all an unfortunate misunderstanding -- that, in fact, there is a small version of White Santa too, and vice versa for Black Santa. But no such figure was available in the Michael's we visited that day. Rather, there were one or two giant White Santas and a whole bunch of tiny Black Santas, implying more that Black Santa is akin to a helper elf than a proper Santa for anybody who likes to think that the race of Santa really doesn't matter. (Of course, White Santa's Wife was not in large form either, though I have no picture to prove that.)

If I were a betting man, I'd gather most people would see a problem with the size differential.

Has anyone seen anything like this before?

Fantasy and Moral Ambiguity: Repetition Rears Its Ugly Head

arconna@yahoo.com (Shaun Duke) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:05:44 PST

Author Bryan Thomas Schmidt has taken a stab at author/editor James L. Sutter's Suvudu post on why moral ambiguity in fantasy is a good thing. In said stabbing, Schmidt makes some well-worn arguments about why moral ambiguous fantasy presents problems for society, but the bulk of his argument -- in my mind -- rests on a bed of false assumptions.

For example, Schmidt argues that our world is one beset with nihilism and moral ambiguities fermented by the entertainment industry. He suggests that

We are bombarded with images of violence, sex, language, etc. which of things, people, places being torn apart. We are shown these as motivated by impurities and negative motives more often than pure motives. And we are told that’s because human beings will always go that way by nature. While I do believe in the depravity of man, I also believe man has the capacity to grow and reach beyond natural tendencies and become so much better than that. And that’s what I want from my heroes. While I don’t want unflawed, perfect heroes—who can relate to those either—at the same time, I do want to know who should win; who is on the right side.

Underlying this argument are two problems: 1) the assumption that the media overwhelming fails to provide us with morally ambiguous or questionable heroes who we can root for, and 2) the
absolutist logic the continues to dominate colonial and imperial ideology to this day -- namely, the idea that we can easily determine who is right in a given situation based solely on their apparently moral behavior.

The first assumption is false the second you look at what gets put on our screens and on our shelves. Most of what we view/read for pleasure contains flawed, realistic characters who are still our heroes. Is it not possible, for example, that a semi-violent police detective can still be someone we root for even if we disagree with the occasional abuse he launches at his wife? True, we would mostly all agree he must get help, and perhaps end up in jail, but we can also agree that his pursuit of the bad guy (who may have very difference motivations of his own) is right. Or perhaps a better example is a police detective who drinks too much, sometimes putting himself and others at risk with his drunken behavior. Flawed? Yes. Needs help? Yes. But can we still root for him? Sure. Just as we often root for the detectives on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, some of which have roughed up suspects and so on in the pursuit of justice which is never pure and almost always slightly disappointing. It doesn't matter that Stabler is kind of a douchebag; we still want him to get the criminals.

Most of the right/wrong elements in the above positions are only absolute if one holds to a puritanical view of the human species, one which cannot take into account the variations of human believe, the variations of human psychology, and the variations of human biology. Schmidt brings up genocide and rape as specific examples of pure morality. While genocide and rape are certainly detrimental to society, their activity is shaped by ideologies that are absolutist in themselves. Those who freely commit genocide believe fervently that they are doing a service to society. We can only say they are wrong because we come from a different moral framework, one which has done little to stifle murder and rape within itself.

But none of this means that those positions are right, nor does it mean that adding moral ambiguity to fantasy means that anti-murder and anti-rape are questionable positions. In fact, it's quite the opposite. What moral ambiguity tells us is this: things are far more complicated than it is easy to admit. Murderers may need to be punished, but every murder is not committed for the same reason. The same is true of genocide and rape. We punish these people not because they break moral codes (recall, for example, that it wasn't all that long ago that there were no legal rules to prosecute rapes as rapes), but because they do things detrimental to society or other people. But their motivations cannot be discounted. To do that is to shut ourselves away from the variations of selfhood that make up the human species. We're a complicated bunch.

The second piece to the above puzzle is a slightly more problematic assumption. What we've learned in the last 50 years is that #2 is always already false so long as there are at least two sides to an issue. That doesn't mean we have to agree with the other side, whatever that may be, but it does mean that there are always two sides to a given coin. We might, for example, argue that Al Qaeda is purely evil based solely on what they say and what they do, but to do so would mean ignoring historical precedence, religious tutelage, and a host of other factors which paint a different picture. In the end, most of us would agree that Al Qaeda deserves to be stopped, but we might also agree that some of the people who are a part of that organization may not be there for reasons we would consider morally questionable if the roles were reversed.

It is, however, false to argue that America is purely right and Al Qaeda is purely wrong in a moral sense. To do so would require one of two things: 1) a head-in-the-sand view of reality, or 2) an open acknowledgement that every action made by the "right" party must be questioned unless or until a pure moral position can be found. Neither of these are particularly good options.

Yet if we take Schmidt's moral positioning seriously, it's perhaps his first volley of questions that exposes the fundamentally flawed assumption trapped beneath his entire post:

[How] can it be wrong to write stories which show a clearer sense of morality? What kind of future are we positing for our children? What kind of heroes are we offering them as role models? Don’t we have a responsibility to do better?

One might ask these questions in response: How it is morally right to tell lies by presenting false images of how things really are? What kind of future does a purist view of the world, humanity, and human motivations present to our children, who will one day have to navigate that world without the cultural and mental tools to deal with reality? What kind of heroes are we offering them as role models if we give them heroes who are overwhelmingly perfect,* without the moral questions provided by ambiguity? Don't we have a responsibility to present morality as it actually is, not as those of us who pretend purist models of morality exist would like it to be?

The problem here stems from delusional utopianism. That is that to believe that morality can be pure and absolute comes from a desperate desire within oneself to see unreality become true. Just as utopias -- in the popular, rather than traditional sense -- cannot form so long as the variations of the human mind prevent it, so too does the security of the belief that moral frameworks are absolute and without nuance. But, in fact, the world we live in is not a sea of nihilism and moral non-existence. Rather, we live in a world where it is increasingly more difficult to ignore the motivations of others, to pretend that we necessarily -- by default -- have the right answer, and to assume that our beliefs cannot be challenged. But that world doesn't throw out moral thinking or moral positions.

To challenge is to make stronger. If we take into account human variation, we can come to understand ourselves and what lies within us all, and we can take that and make a better humanity (now there's a utopian thought). We live in a world at war with its ideological variants: on one the side, the traditional purist model struggles for supremacy; on the other, cultural relativism and the values associated with moral ambiguity try to give us a nuanced picture of the world. Only when we can see past old ways of thinking will we be able to move forward. Nostalgia will never get us anywhere, though it sometimes does us a little good. Read your nostalgic fantasy epics, but know too that it represents a world verging on the utopic, not the world as it actually must be.

I'll end this post with a final quote from Schmidt on George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones series (specifically, Westeros as a world):**

His world is not a fun one to inhabit and not a place I’d ever want to visit. Most of his characters are not people I admire and wish I knew. Some have admirable qualities. Some do admirable things. But overall, I am left wondering why they get up every day. What motivates those people to keep going?

The real question here is this: for anyone who holds the view that GoT and similar series paint a disturbed picture of humanity, how do you get up every day in a world that, sadly, doesn't look all that different? People stab each other in the back every day on this tiny planet. And not just evil people in the purist sense of the word. Supposedly "good" people hurt other people all the time, sometimes by proxy. Nations burn with death, even though our world is slightly less violent than in the past -- starvation and disease are the new genocide. The global market helps some, and hurts many others. The truth is, we don't live in a world where absolute good and absolute evil exist, and if people in a fictional universe where that fact is also true can get up day in and day out, it begs the question: how do we?

Well, perhaps that little insight can tell us something about why so many love Martin's work. Because it tells us something very important about who we are as human beings. Resilient little hairless monkeys...

------------------------------------------------------------

*When I say "overwhelmingly perfect" I really mean that I take arguments about "flawed, but fundamentally good characters" as lip service to a non-existent ideal. When people talk about character flaws, they don't mean defects, but minor infractions on one's moral purity. Effectively, "flaws" is a nice way of saying "he smokes, but it's not really a problem."

**I could pick a lot of quotes from Schmidt's article, but I think the selections above will suffice to make my point.

Reminder: the 2011 Holiday Logo Design Contest -- 3 Days to Go!

arconna@yahoo.com (Shaun Duke) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:30:16 PST

If you haven't entered already, you should! Free t-shirts and book money are hard to come by, after all.

The rules are located here. Read them, do some drawing, and enter!

Anywhoodles...

Guest Post: On Science Fiction Fascinations by S. Spencer Baker

arconna@yahoo.com (Shaun Duke) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 12:00:00 PST

I've been fascinated with science fiction since I was about four years old, even though I'm fairly sure that I didn't know it was called science fiction in those days. There were puppet shows on TV like Supercar and Fireball XL5, and I dimly remember another show that had flying saucers like wobbling spinning tops that docked with a space station, but I've never seen that one again so I might have dreamt it -- it was all in monochrome and a long time ago. Then Doctor Who hit the tiny screen with a theme tune that could only have been made by aliens -- and nasty aliens at that. UFOs and bad robots seemed to be everywhere back then.

I personally discovered a planet in 1964. I wrote an entire project about it, a huge scrapbook of cut-out pictures from magazines and hand lettered descriptions of this amazing new planet that I'd discovered in the school library called Pluto. It was a really great project, the best I'd ever done. My teacher called me a moron and sent me weeping like a baby to the back of the class. I was secretly pleased when Pluto lost its planetary status a couple of years ago. Serves it right. Bad planet.

Then came Star Trek and I was enraptured. We had, on our televisions (in colour), a black and
white representation of what it would look like to be on a spaceship travelling through the stars. To this day, if you want to make me happy, sit me in a cinema and project the view from the Enterprise as it slices its way through the galaxy. Watch those stars zoom past. Tiny points of light that are entire solar systems flying by and out of sight. Pure bliss.

Of course when I was a kid, I wasn't able to articulate exactly what it was about science fiction that entranced me. I did know that it wasn't the aliens. Daleks were scary as hell and cybermen were just clumsy precursors of stormtroopers, but neither were that interesting. Whatever aliens Kirk and Spock had to battle with in their styrofoam sets were all pretty useless in the end -- after all, we managed to defeat them all inside 45 minutes, right? I have to give the Borg a nod. They were really cool but they weren't really very alien except in their social structure. They did give us Seven Of Nine though, so they will forever hold a special place in all young heterosexual male hearts. But no, it wasn't the aliens that held my interest.

It wasn't the weapons either. Nuclear-ionised-plasma, mega-warp-reverse-polarity, pulse-phase-modulated photon-this and electro-that are simply a writer's way of getting themselves out of a problem they deliberately created in order to put tension into the narrative and keep everyone glued to their seats. If the future is to be about technology (and I sincerely hope that it is) then the weapons side of future tech is the least constructive and most boring.

No, what fascinated me then and fascinates me still today is first, the idea that the future holds the solutions to today's problems (I admit this may be weak-minded of me) and second, that one day we will get the hell off this tiny, stinking, life-infested, doomed rock and get out to the stars.

Yes. Ever since I was old enough to understand that we were on a planet, I've wanted to get off it. As far as I'm concerned, this is a perfectly natural response. After all, if you lived on an island all your life, and could see another land over the sea, are you telling me you're not going to go there? You aren't going to walk down the track every day and look over the water to a huge lump of rock and not think 'I wonder what's over there?' Of course you are. You'll invent technology that floats and you'll go there. Then you'll look out at the horizon and think 'I wonder if there's anywhere out there that's better than this place?' And until you've gone to wherever you think 'out there' is and found out if it's better, you will never be able to rest. That's just the way human beings are made. If we weren't made that way we would never have left Africa and we would have died out like 99% of all the species on earth that ever existed. We are genetically programmed to be curious. It's a survival characteristic. Get over it.

We have to go. Not only in order to survive (because only an idiot would expect life on Earth to last forever) but because we're made that way.

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About Slabscape: Reset:
Take the most sophisticated A.I. designed mind that has ever existed, encase it in over fifty million cubic kilometres of diamond nano-rods and send it off on a twenty-thousand-year odyssey towards the centre of the galaxy. Then screw it all up by allowing thirty-two million humans to go along for the ride...

About the author:
S.Spencer Baker (1956~2106) fled formal education and family at the age of seventeen and refused to ever return to either. He spent a subjectively interminable, but retrospectively finite amount of time learning how to exploit the intellectual property of others until he re-remembered that his childhood obsession was to create his own intellectual property and get other people to exploit it on his behalf. Somewhere around the beginning of that seriously weird century that began inauspiciously in 2001 he started creating the not-at-all-weird universe of Slabscape. By 2011 he had published his first science fiction novel; Slabscape:Reset - a webback (being backed up by information, back-stories, glossaries and complete irrelevancies in an online resource at http://slabscapedia.com). By 2020 he had published several more novels and short stories in the series, including Slabscape:Dammit, Slabscape:Reboot and a compendium of the first three books along with a contemporary text dump of the ever-expanding Slabscapedia entitled; Slabscape:Thank Dice That's Over (The Doorstop Slab). If it had have been over at that point, it's likely that Baker would have slipped back into relative obscurity. Unfortunately, the development of information temporal displacement technology onSlab by Fencer Dean Twenty (collectively recognised initiator of important intangible query assets) in 1040 (Slab asynchronology) meant that a deluge of fan-fiction written by SlabAficionados was sent back to the mid-twenty-first century from dice-knows-when by dice-knows-who. On July 30th, 2069, Amazon.com received 876 new, entirely different, Slabscape novels into its e-library servers in San Diego all purporting to be written by Baker. Fortunately the California Disappearance destroyed all record of every single one of them, which is odd when you think about it because if they really had come from the future then how come the authors didn't know about the California Disappearance in the first place? Such are the mysteries that surround temporal displacement.

Baker chose to go ahead on September 4th 2106 at the exact time that Slab departed/will have departed/is going to depart Earth Orbit.

Guest Post: Writing Fear in Appleton by J. Stephen Howard

arconna@yahoo.com (Shaun Duke) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 12:00:01 PST

Dear Brave and Steadfast Reader,

Writing the horror novel, Fear in Appleton, was a grueling yet enjoyable process that took me over three years to complete. During that time, the book went through several drafts, including one where Michael Garrett, Stephen King’s first editor as credited in King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, provided input.

The idea that sparked Fear in Appleton was:

What if the reader could follow the journey a person takes from madness to death to becoming a ghost? Then, if the reader were given a front seat to the hauntings occurring thereafter, it would make for an exciting, creepy roller coaster ride.

Adding to the fun, I thought:

What if someone who was afraid of everything in life, with a million phobias, could flip that around as a ghost doing all the scaring?

Thus, Professor Terrence Crawford, a self-absorbed creative writing teacher with a fragile ego, was born. Naturally, since he was a writer, he’d want to narrate his ghost stories.

I realized that with a ghost narrator, I needed a warm, live body as a vehicle for typing up his exploits. It made sense to make Professor Crawford’s old boss, the English department head named Professor Starkley, that vehicle. So Crawford, after pushing people over the edge, would float back to Appleton College to induce Starkley to record his escapades.

As a big fan of edgy HBO shows like “True Blood” and “The Sopranos,” I began to imagine these hauntings as separate episodes that shared some connective tissue. However, I needed a way to link them. That linking agent, Angela Lacey, who was Professor Crawford’s obsession in life, became his opponent. But first, she had to become aware of his supernatural presence.

I made Crawford’s victims varied to give the sense of a ghost haunting an entire town. He could be anywhere floating around, trying to sniff out the fears of the populace. Yet, even as an incredibly powerful supernatural force, a residue of his humanity remained, and as a result, he couldn’t keep away from Angela. At this point in the novel, the stories go from the victims being varied and having nothing in common with each other to involving Angela in some way.

Finally, to send the roller coaster ride to its conclusion, I needed to get the ghost out of the English department and onto the campus for one last showdown. The character of Wesley sprang organically from the novel’s writing process. It just seemed like, after hopping around inside the minds of various victims, the ghost finally found the perfect host for his devilish purposes.

Then, as for the heroine Angela, she required something from the past, something clouding her present and causing her to fear life. It made sense to give her this burden so there could be a final battle between the ghost and her.

I had a great time writing this novel, and it’s gratifying to see it published on Amazon/Kindle. I hope you’ll download a copy and post a review after reading it. With forums such as this one, reading and writing don’t have to be mutually exclusive or isolating. Let’s keep the communication channels open so the ghosts and other things that go bump in the night won’t keep us under the covers.

Sincerely,
J. Stephen Howard

You can learn more about Fear in Appleton here or on Facebook. The book is available on Amazon.

Quickie Review: Hanna

arconna@yahoo.com (Shaun Duke) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 10:15:11 PST

I got a chance to see Hanna with my brother and sister the other day and thought I would offer some short, but sweet thoughts.

Plot: Living in the middle of nowhere, Hanna is raised by her father, Erik, to be a skilled soldier in order to assassinate the woman who killed her mother. When Hanna is ready, they activate a distress beacon and put a plan into action. But Hanna must venture out into the real world with all its luxuries and technologies -- a world she knows little about.

Pros: Hanna is an action-packed thriller which shows why Saoirse Ronan is one of the best young
actresses in Hollywood. She is simply brilliant in this film (with her German accent and perfectly stunned expressions when she's shown something her character has never seen). Cate Blanchett is equally amazing as the psychotic Melissa, and Tom Hollander (Beckett from Pirates of the Caribbean) puts on one of the creepiest performances I've ever seen.

Cons: Honestly, I thought the soundtrack (by The Chemical Brothers) was lackluster and, at times, overbearing. Half of the background noise involved annoying groaning electronic noises with drum machine rhythms. The film really deserved a better soundtrack.

I also thought that the ending left a lot to be desired. There's a major twist towards the end, but it needed more development in the actual story. Likewise, some of the action involving Bana looked forced.

Overall: The film is entertaining. The plot moves quickly, the characters are fascinating, and the concept is slightly science fictional -- all good things for readers of this blog.

Directing: 3/5
Cast: 5/5
Writing: 3/5
Visuals: 4/5
Adaptation: N/A
Value: $6.50
Overall: 3.75/5

SandF Ep. 6.7 (Torture Cinema Meets Rare Exports) is Live!

arconna@yahoo.com (Shaun Duke) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 19:49:10 PST

The last episode of the year! That means alcohol, a supposedly bad movie, and good old Christmas fun.

Download it and take a listen!

The Reading Game #1: What are you reading now?

arconna@yahoo.com (Shaun Duke) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 09:12:27 PST

It's time for a new (and mostly random) feature on this blog: the reading game! Basically, I tell you what I'm currently reading and then hope everyone will do the same in the comments!

I am reading the following:

Kafkaesque edited by James Patrick Kelley and John Kessel

After the Apocalypse by Maureen McHugh

Death's Heretic by James L. Sutter

Shadow Ops: Control Point by Myke Cole

How about you?

Video Found: The Hobbit (Trailer) -- Thoughts?

arconna@yahoo.com (Shaun Duke) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 10:51:29 PST

We've all been waiting for this film like a dog waits for its master. And it is coming! From the bowels of Khazad-dûm...

What does everyone think? I quite like the look, to be honest. It's a good thing Jackson took the helm, because the film is certainly shining as a result!

Guest Post: Sword and Sorcery -- Why "Man vs Man" is less effective than "Man vs Supernatural" by S. E. Lindberg

arconna@yahoo.com (Shaun Duke) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 10:00:02 PST

Fantasy readers and movie-goers maintain an expectation that protagonists will battle supernatural forces. Those forces may manifest in humans (“bad guys”); however, when the supernatural element is diluted (or superficially offered in clichéd, familiar forms so that the protagonist literally battles a man) then expectations are not met. Consumers become disappointed. The lack luster reception of this year’s movie, Conan the Barbarian, is a good example of this expectation being unsatisfied.

Of course, Man vs. Supernatural conflict is ubiquitous across fantasy. Most recognizable of Supernatural antagonists may be Tolkien’s bodiless Sauron. Nearly three decades before Sauron stalked bookshelves and haunted rings, Conan creator Robert Ervin Howard originated the Sword & Sorcery genre by writing action-packed shorts exploring Man vs. Supernatural.

Sword & Sorcery was coined by author Fritz Leiber years after REH passed, but as he suggested the name he also clarified the role of the supernatural:

I feel more certain than ever that this field should be called the sword-and-sorcery story. This accurately describes the points of culture-level and supernatural element and also immediately distinguishes it from the cloak-and-sword (historical adventure) story—and (quite incidentally) from the cloak-and-dagger (international espionage) story… (Fritz Leiber, Amra, 1961)

But it was Lin Carter who may have best defined Sword and Sorcery in his introduction to his Flashing Sword series (Carter, with L. Sprague de Camp, posthumously co-authored several Conan tales):

We call a story Sword & Sorcery when it is an action tale, derived from the traditions of the pulp magazine adventure story, set in a land or age or world of the author’s invention—a milieu in which magic actually works and the gods are real—and a story, moreover, which pits a stalwart warrior in direct conflict with the forces of supernatural evil. (Lin Carter, Flashing Swords I, 1973)

REH wrote twenty-one Conan tales, and no human antagonist persisted across them. Each story had bad guys/creatures/etc., but they were overt proxies for greater supernatural evils. Hence, the conflict was Conan (the Man) vs. Supernatural.

One reason the 1982 Conan the Barbarian movie obtained better reception than the 2011 version can be explained by analyzing the core conflicts. In the 1982 version, Conan fought the serpent cult of Set led by Thusla Doom. But the movie was not about Conan vs. Thulsa Doom. Thulsa was just a representative for his serpentine god, and Conan was continuously fighting other representatives of Set, including a giant snake. In fact, Thulsa arguably was not even human since he transformed into a serpent!

On the other hand, the 2011 reboot pits Conan against the evil Khalar Zym. Khalar, a man, spends his entire life re-assembling the purportedly sorcerous Mask of Acheron (infused with enough magic to transform the wielder into a god and ruler of the world). But repairing the mask appeared inconsequential in that it did not provide Khalar with any powers, nor did it transform him into a mythical creature. The expected climax was a battle between Conan and the god Acheron, but instead viewers were treated to a magic-less melee between Conan and the man Khalar.

Were you disappointed in the recent Conan movie?

-----------------------------------------------------

About the author:
Looking for bloody action with genuine supernatural elements? Then I invite you to read my newly published novel Lords of Dyscrasia (click for excerpts). Enjoy the Underworld!

Early Review: ForeWord Clarion Reviews, 5 Stars for Lords of Dyscrasia! "...Outside of the works of Poe and Lovecraft, there are few, if any, novels comparable to [Lords of Dyscrasia]... Beowulf comes to mind both for its epic quality and bloody action... The pace is nearly breathless...

Lindberg, who also created more than 50 illustrations and the cover for this book, makes the majority of current popular fantasy fiction read like recipes by comparison. Lords of Dyscrasia is highly recommended, though not for the faint of heart."

Lords of Dyscrasia is currently available in ePub and Paperbacks everywhere!

Video Found: Whitley Strieber's "The Christmas Spirits" Trailer

arconna@yahoo.com (Shaun Duke) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:00:04 PST

No need to say anything about this. Just watch:
You can find Strieber's book on Amazon, in case you're interested. I'm sure it'll be an amusing read.

P.S.: I don't know if the book will be available elsewhere in the future; it didn't show up in my B&N search, though.

Book Review: Walking with the Comrades by Arundhati Roy

arconna@yahoo.com (Shaun Duke) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 09:44:32 PST

There's something stirring in India. A specter, if you will, of a dark time arisen and a dark time to come. Whether we call it capitalism, corporatism, or new (neo) Imperialism, the fact remains that those most affected by the shifting dynamics of contemporary industrialization will be the disenfranchised and the disinherited.

Arundhati Roy's (The God of Small Things, etc.) Walking with the Comrades waltzes straight into this new Indian world with passion and focus, chronicling her journey into the forests of India where Maoists and the few remaining indigenous people have dug in their heels. Each new day brings her closer to the heart of the movement that has set India's government on fire, spawning new counter-revolutionary police forces and new regulations and laws to strip people of their land for corporate profit. In the process, she crafts a disturbing narrative of the new Indian state, one

which will seem suspiciously familiar to Americans who know a little about the United States' history with the Native Americans.

Walking with the Comrades is a quick read, though by no means an easy one. Roy spends considerable time setting the stage for her walk with the Maoist "revolutionaries" in the forests of India. She provides cogent analyses of the Indian government's old and new programs for stifling dissent, the language they use, and the results of their activities. Likewise, she explores the history of communism in India, leading us through suppression, violent acts, revolts, and the mindset of the people on the ground -- the very comrades with which she walks. Walking with the Comrades, as such, is part of the grand tradition of travel narratives, but it is also an expansion of Roy's long and distinguished career as a novelist and cultural critic.

And it's the travel narrative aspect which is most compelling. True, Walking with the Comrades is about the political and economic situation in contemporary India, but it also an attempt to put a face on the great "security threat" of India. It's a clever tactic, because understanding that there are humans behind the mask of terror forces us to think about who we are fighting against, and why they are resisting. In the case of India, the Maoists are fighting a government that wants communism in all its forms destroyed, and the indigenous people protected by Maoists -- even if only for political gain -- moved off and adapted for industrial society -- at the expense of their traditions, native lands, etc. To realize who the Maoists are is to make blind faith to India's new cultural projects impossible, if not because we care about the Maoists and their goals -- most of us in the U.S. likely do not because we have a tendency to be ruthlessly anti-communist here -- then at least because we understand why they are doing what they do. Perhaps it's the optimist in me thinks that maybe reasonable compromise can be found in this cesspool of violence and hatred if only we can see the humanity in everything.

Still, some might be willing to dismiss Roy's work simply because she often provides polemics and doesn't seem altogether genuine when she concedes points to the opposition; in the case of Walking with the Comrades, Roy occasionally tries to suggest that the Indian government might have a solid rationale for some of their actions, yet the overwhelming majority of the book rips India to shreds, thereby weakening the conciliatory gesture. But to dismiss the book for this reason would be to discount what is clearly a problem that transcends borders and exposes the divisions and strategies utilized by a government bent not on compromises with indigenous people, but the destruction of their way of life. Even if you shrug Roy off as a wacky liberal, the facts point to a disturbing history which does not paint a pretty image for the Indian state. And even if you look at the other side, it's hard to ignore the words spoken by the people in charge, the projects set in place, the militarization of the police, and the general sense that things are not as they should be.

It's perhaps for that reason that I come out of Roy's book feeling unable to challenge the anger and disbelief she channels throughout her book, despite wearing my critical thinking cap during the reading process. Roy doesn't pull many punches when she attacks India's government and the corporations attached to it, but I found myself wondering why she bothered pulling the ones she did. If her facts are in order -- they are -- then what the Indian government is doing doesn't deserve conciliatory gestures, friendly discussion, or calm reasoning. Rather, it seems to me that to fight an extremist state, one must attack it with an extreme position. Roy certainly heads in that direction, and the result is an enormously educational reading experience. When I finished reading, I wondered where we are supposed to go from here. Maybe Roy will cover that in her next book...

Walking with the Comrades is one of the most compelling non-fiction books I have read this year, and certainly one worth remembering for years to come. If you're interested in contemporary Indian history or global capitalism, this is a book to add to your collection.

If you want to learn more about the author, check out her Wiki page. You can also find more information about the book on the publisher's website. The book should be available pretty much anywhere.

Read With:
Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper

(This feature will only be included on reviews of non-fiction books. It's intended to offer a suggestion or two for SF/F books that might be interesting to read alongside the book being reviewed.)

Guest Post: 1978 by Robert Louis Smith

arconna@yahoo.com (Shaun Duke) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 09:30:04 PST

I don't remember much about 1978; I was only in fifth grade. Much of what I do remember is spotty, like the fact that our TV set was a bulky piece of oak furniture with a bulbous gray screen in the middle. Back then, there were no remote controls, no cable or satellite television, and we got exactly three channels. We selected among them by turning a big silver dial on the front of the set, just above the shiny, gold fabric speaker covers. My dad always made one of the kids get up to turn the dial when he wanted to look for a different show. I remember other things from that long ago year, too. Like rotary-dial telephones, bell-bottom jeans (they always got caught in my bike chain), disco music, and my fifth grade library period with Mrs. Smith.

I really wasn't much of a student in those years, and, sadly, I made frequent trips to the principal's office. In 1978, there were few concerns about protecting a child's privacy. Whenever one's name was called for a trip to the office, the announcement came over the school's antiquated intercom system, and to the sadistic delight of virtually every child in the building. Those of us unlucky enough to have drawn the principal's ire were always called directly by name, for all to bear witness. These were somber affairs (I recognize it now as an effective form of intimidation). I remember these instances as utterly terrifying because, back then, a call to the principal's office meant only one thing: swats. And I must have gotten more than any kid in the whole school. I was such an unruly kid, in fact, that no one could ever figure out how Mrs. Smith, our withered, osteoporotic library teacher, always kept me so thoroughly leashed.

Mrs. Smith had curly, snow-white hair, pointy silver-rimmed spectacles, and shuffled along with a wooden cane. For a grade school librarian of the 1970's, she was straight out of central casting. She wore a different color polyester pantsuit every day of the week, and she rarely uttered a kind word. The walls of her library (which also doubled as the school cafeteria) were lined with children's books from ceiling to floor. Our job was to peruse the titles, choose one quickly, then shut up and read for an hour. For many of the children in my class, this was the longest, most miserable period of the day. For me, it was wonderful. The truth is that Mrs. Smith never had to say a word to me. I could've sat at that formica-covered table reading all day.

Many, many golden nuggets lay hidden among the collection of dusty spines on those public school shelves: Encyclopedia Brown, The Hardy Boys, and Johnny Tremaine are among the titles I remember consuming that year. But these were not destined to stay with me like another I spotted one rainy afternoon. Though I found the title and cover of this new discovery quite strange, it intrigued me. Soon, I found myself mesmerized by a book that I would read over and over throughout the years of my life, and one that I remain fond of more than three decades later. It was called The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis, and it was the best introduction to the modern fantasy genre that a rambunctious, imaginative kid could ever hope for. For weeks, my mind danced with thoughts of fawns, Turkish delight, talking beavers, and creatures turned to stone by an evil white witch. A few years later, following the suggestion of a friend, I picked up a copy of the strange cousin to that Narnia tale, and began a new love affair with Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. These are the books that shaped my impression of what a fantasy story should be. Quite a high watermark. Over the years, I strayed from these tales, experimenting with new authors and genres. I even tried to recapture some of the magic by reading countless other fantasy tales (many of which I now regard as knock-offs). But like any true love, my heart always led back to Narnia and Middle Earth.

Somewhere in the middle of all this -- perhaps around the age of twelve -- I decided the course my life would take. I was going to be a writer. I wrote my first story in junior high, completing most of it during my English class while the other, more disciplined students fastidiously worked on whatever assignment the teacher had given that day. My debut story was about an old woman who captures the boy living next door to her, locks him in a pit, terrifies him, and later reveals that his whole life has been a sham, and that she is his real mother. I've no doubt that the story was just awful, but for me, it seemed somehow powerful. I wanted to get really good at the writing thing and give it a shot.

In time, perhaps thankfully, cooler heads prevailed. I turned out to be a capable student, after all, and eventually followed a long path that led me to medical school, and then into cardiology. Even so, I never abandoned the notion that someday I would write. When the time for me came, it was with those impactful memories of Narnia and Middle Earth still swirling in my head, and with hopes that I could create something wonderful, but not just another knock-off of those great writers of yore. This is how Antiquitas Lost was born. Please understand that I have no illusions of greatness. For a variety of reasons, the writings of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien will not be -- cannot be -- duplicated. And I really am no different than thousands of other fantasy writers who have aspired to create something as big as those novels were. I realize this very well. I only hope that, if you have the opportunity to make your way into Pangrelor (the fantasy world in Antiquitas Lost), you might find some escape from the stresses of life, enjoy meeting the fresh cast of characters, and experience a fraction of the magic that I first experienced back in 1978.

---------------------------------------------------------

Robert Louis Smith, author of Antiquitas Lost: The Last of the Shamalans, has numerous degrees, including psychology (B.A.), applied microbiology (B.S.), anaerobic microbiology (M.Sc.), and a Medical Doctorate (M.D.). He serves as an interventional cardiologist at the Oklahoma Heart Institute. He is married and the father of two young children. He began writing Antiquitas Lost in 2003 while studying at Tulane University in New Orleans.

For more information please visit http://www.antiquitaslost.com, and follow the author on Facebook and Twitter

SandF Episode 6.6 (Favoritism -- Our 2011 Besties) is Live!

arconna@yahoo.com (Shaun Duke) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:06:50 PST

I'll let the description on the episode page do the talking:

Our last non-interview, non-torture episode of the year is all about our favorite books, movies, TV shows, interviews, etc. for the 2011 year. You can see our lists below, but you'll want to listen to hear our reasons.

Plus: we spend a little time saying thank you to everyone who listened and appeared on the show. Why? Because we love you. Obviously. Show us a little love back by leaving a response to the following questions:

What books, movies, and TV shows were your favorites for 2011 (whether published this year or not)? Which interviews, roundtables, and Torture Media episodes did you most enjoy?

Head on over and take a listen!

Haul of Books 2.0: Books Received Vol. 7

arconna@yahoo.com (Shaun Duke) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 09:00:10 PST

Another edition of things I've added to my collection. Some of these are research selections, as I bought them around the same time when I was putting together a syllabus on postcolonial fiction. As such, the books below are an eclectic bunch.

What I want to know is:

What have you purchased recently?
Which books below most interest you?

Here's the list:
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdey (Penguin)

Saleem Sinai is born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the very moment of India’s independence. Greeted by fireworks displays, cheering crowds, and Prime Minister Nehru himself, Saleem grows up to learn the ominous consequences of this coincidence. His every act is mirrored and magnified in events that sway the course of national affairs; his health and well-being are inextricably bound to those of his nation; his life is inseparable, at times indistinguishable, from the history of his country. Perhaps most remarkable are the telepathic powers linking him with India’s 1,000 other “midnight’s children,” all born in that initial hour and endowed with magical gifts.

This novel is at once a fascinating family saga and an astonishing evocation of a vast land and its people–a brilliant incarnation of the universal human comedy. Twenty-five years after its publication, Midnight’s Children stands apart as both an epochal work of fiction and a brilliant performance by one of the great literary voices of our time.

Galactic Cluster by James Blish (Signet)

Imagine...a galaxy of superworms bound together through telepathy...and a planet whose inhabitants consider the human brain to be a cancerous tumor!

Imagine...an incredible journey to Alpha Centauri that takes ten months for a man's body--and 6,000 years for his mind!

Imagine...the refugees of the ultimate germ war cowering beneath the crust of the planet. To remian in hiding means mass psychosis--but to flee to the surface is certain death!

James Blish has imagined all this...and has created from it a universe that is both fantastic and horrifyingly real. Here is modern science fiction...by one of the acknowledged masters of our time!

The King's Rifle by Biyi Bandele (Amistad)

It's winter 1944 and the Second World War is entering its most crucial state. A few months ago fourteen-year-old Ali Banana was a blacksmith's apprentice in his rural hometown in West Africa; now he's trekking through the Burmese jungle. Led by the unforgettably charismatic Sergeant Damisa, the unit has been given orders to go behind enemy lines and wreak havoc. But Japanese snipers lurk behind every tree—and even if the unit manages to escape, infection and disease lie in wait. Homesick and weary, the men of D-Section Thunder Brigade refuse to give up.

Taut and immediate, The King's Rifle is the first novel to depict the experiences of black African soldiers in the Second World War. This is a story of real life battles, of the men who made the legend of the Chindits, the unconventional, quick-strike division of the British Army in India. Brilliantly executed, this vividly realized account details the madness, sacrifice, and dark humor of that war's most vicious battleground. It is also the moving story of a boy trying to live long enough to become a man.

Was by Geoff Ryman (Penguin)

This haunting, wildly original novel explores the lives of several characters entwined by The Wizard of Oz--both the novel written by L. Frank Baum and the strangely resonant 1939 film. Was traverses the American landscape to reveal how the human imagination transcends the bleakest circumstance.

Fiskadoro by Denis Johnson (Vintage Contemporaries)(the image is from a different edition)

Hailed by the New York Times as "wildly ambitious" and "the sort of book that a young Herman Melville might have written had he lived today and studied such disparate works as the Bible, 'The Wasteland,' Fahrenheit 451, and Dog Soldiers, screened Star Wars and Apocalypse Now several times, dropped a lot of acid and listened to hours of Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones," Fiskadoro is a stunning novel of an all-too-possible tomorrow. Deeply moving and provacative, Fiskadoro brilliantly presents the sweeping and heartbreaking tale of the survivors of a devastating nuclear war and their attempts to breaking tale of the survivors of a devastating nuclear war and their attempts to salvage remnants of the old world and rebuild their culture.

The End of the World News by Anthony Burgess (Penguin)

The dying Freud hustled out of Vienna into exile. A Broadway musical on the subject of Trotsky in New York. The last throes of the planet of Earth in AD 2000. These are all items on The End of the World New.

Psychoanalysis, international socialism and The End--three themes, three stories--outrageously counterpointed into trinity, in a novel stuffed with verbal pyrotechnics, amazing sleights of fantasy, and tantalizing jokes, and which is crowned by a brilliant, unexpected, out-of-this-world finale--all written by one novelist at the height of his powers.

Here Comes Another Lesson by Stephen O'Connor (Free Press)

STEPHEN O’CONNOR IS ONE OF TODAY’S MOST GIFTED AND ORIGINAL WRITERS. In Here Comes Another Lesson, O’Connor, whose stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Conjunctions, and many other places, fearlessly depicts a world that no longer quite makes sense. Ranging from the wildly inventive to the vividly realistic, these brilliant stories offer tender portraits of idealists who cannot live according to their own ideals and of lovers baffled by the realities of love.

The story lines are unforgettable: A son is followed home from work by his dead father. God instructs a professor of atheism to disseminate updated Commandments. The Minotaur is awakened to his own humanity by the computer-game-playing "new girl" who has been brought to him for supper. A recently returned veteran longs for the utterly ordinary life he led as a husband and father before being sent to Iraq. An ornithologist, forewarned by a cormorant of the exact minute of his death, struggles to remain alert to beauty and joy.

As playful as it is lyrical, Here Comes Another Lesson celebrates human hopefulness and laments a sane and gentle world that cannot exist.

Starship by Brian Aldiss (Signet)

They were humans--or so they believed--the grotesque result of a grandiose experiment which had gone appallingly awry.

Trapped on a world that was hurtling through space at a fantastic speed, they sought the riddle of their heritage among the only companions they knew--ghosts, mutants, giants and regimented rats.

This is one of the most extraordinary novels ever written, the spine-tingling story of lost beings who try to find themselves in a world gone made.

The Battle of Foreve by A. E. Van Vogt (Ace)

Humanity, true humanity, had reached its Utopian ideal in the select colony of the perfect thousand--isolated from the crude world around them which they had populated with pseudo-men created biologically from the various beast species. The thousand men and women were free to dream, to philosophize, to enjoy the flowers of the mind--but not of the body.

Then Modyun, the restless one, decided to visit the outer world and thereby precipitated the Battle of Forever. For what he found were worlds within worlds, wheels within wheels, and a deus ex machina which hinted to outer-space origins.

It's a new van Vogt universe-spanning epic, and it's gripping science fiction all the way!

When Worlds Collide by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer (Warner Books)

A runaway planet hurtles toward the earth. As it draws near, massive tidal waves, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions wrack our planet, devastating continents, drowning cities, and wiping out millions. In central North America, a team of scientists race to build a spacecraft powerful enough to escape the doomed earth. Their greatest threat, they soon discover, comes not from the skies but from other humans.

A crackling plot and sizzling, cataclysmic vision have made When Worlds Collide one of the most popular and influential end-of-the-world novels of all time. This Bison Frontiers of Imagination edition features the original story and its sequel, After Worlds Collide.