The Obligatory Meme to Make Up for Sketchy Posting Post

SF Book Meme

If it's good enough for Tenser the Archmage, it's good enough for me.

1. Science fiction, fantasy, or horror?

The best way for me to answer this question was to look over at my bookshelves and see what I own more of with regards to speculative fiction. The hands down winner is fantasy.

2. Hardback, trade paperback, or mass market paperback?

Depends on the author. If I really like the author's writing, or I know the author, hardback is the only way for me. Otherwise I will go with the Mass Market due to space considerations.

3. Heinlein or Asimov?

I like Asimov a lot and I like Heinlein a great deal. Both authors sold out when they tried to "unify" their fictional narratives; one of the single largest wastes of time was the merging of the Foundation and Robot series. I'll keep my psychohistory a human creation if you please. That said, I think that I would choose Heinlein. He has writings for all of my moods. Do I want a kitschy fantasy yarn in the "skiffy" mold? Glory Road here I come. Do I want speculative fiction with political undertones? The Moon is a Harsh Mistress makes for a nice read. Heinlein could write more styles and like the Giving Tree has something for every stage of life.

4. Amazon or brick-and-mortar?

I purchase about 60% of my books at brick-and-mortar stores. I rely on Amazon primarily for the stuff I don't want the clerks frowning at me for purchasing (I am unusually susceptible to shame, Plato would be proud), and when I am looking to save money on Hardback copies.

5. Barnes & Noble or Borders?

There was a time when I would have said Barnes & Noble because of their "lounge" atmosphere, but that seems largely absent now. The local Borders has a better layout for non-ghetto fiction, but the B&N is better for my SF&F.

6. Hitchhiker or Discworld?

Discworld hands down. I like my humorous fantasy and mourn that there isn't more of it. Kids today, am I really that old geez, aren't often aware of the wonderful Compleat Enchanter series, which breaks my heart. Too many of the modern authors take themselves way to seriously, as do too many of the readers.

7. Bookmark or dogear?

A business card or a receipt.

8. Magazine: Asimov's Science Fiction or Fantasy & Science Fiction?

I have subscribed to both in the past, but I currently only subscribe to F&SF. If you include others though, you can add Realms of Fantasy (the People of F&SF mags) and Locus.

9. Alphabetize by author, by title, or random?

Alphabetize? That's for bookstores and libraries. I use the "genre pile" method. I do at least try to keep authors together if not in alphabetical order.

10. Keep, throw away, or sell?

I could build a house with my books and I would never throw away what could be donated to charity or sold.

11. Year's Best Science Fiction series (edited by Gardner Dozois) or Year's Best SF Series (edited by David G. Hartwell)?

I'll let you know next year, I haven't purchased either in the past.

12. Keep dustjacket or toss it?

Keep.

13. Read with dustjacket or remove it?

On, it makes a great bookmark.

14. Short story or novel?

Novel. I read very few short stories. They are hard to do well and I am often disappointed. I am very sick of the "suprise twist" convention most fall into. I will read them from an author I admire, or by recommendation.

15. Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket?

Harry Potter, but if pressed for what "young adult" fantasy series I prefer, it'd be Lewis hands down.

16. Stop reading when tired or chapter breaks?

When tired.

17. "It was a dark and stormy night" or "Once upon a time"?

"It was a dark and stormy night" is just bad writing; "once upon a time" is convention. I'll take convention over poor craftsmanship. When isn't a stormy night dark? If it isn't that is a more interesting opening.

18. Buy or borrow?

Buy like crazy. Have you read Polysyllabic Spree? That's me in a nutshell.

19. Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation, or browse?

Browse, recommendation, and then reviews. I like to find new things and really like brick-and-mortar for the ability to read book backs.

20. Lewis or Tolkien?

This seems a false dichotomy in many ways. I like both. Lewis for his allegory and his willingness to lift imagery from any source. Tolkien is a worldsmith who created an internally consistent milieu based on Anglo Saxon and Norse mythology. Lewis had humorous word play and Tolkien wrote poetry I skip when rereading. In the end...Tolkien.

21. Hard SF or space opera?

Space Opera, hands down. Anything too rooted in current scientific understandings will collapse under future scrutiny. No one cares that the world isn't hollow or that Deja Thoris can't exist, it is the imagined qualities and the characters that matter in Space Opera. And today's Hard SF that has science that becomes outdated, but has imaginative settings and memorable characters becomes tomorrow's Space Opera.

22. Collection (single author) or anthology (multiple authors)?

I really like both, but anthologies featuring authors I enjoy have introduced me to new authors. On the other hand, a P K Dick collection doesn't have the variable quality of some anthologies. Anthologies are deeply dependent on their editors. Chris Roberson's Adventure anthology was a fun read that introduced me to many new authors.

23. Hugo or Nebula?

Hugo.

24. Golden Age SF or New Wave SF?

I like both, but the preachy nature of much New Wave SF which often confuses progressive political screeds for cultural criticism sometimes turns me off as a reader and the conservatives are just as bad. I didn't like Terry Goodkind's oppressive inclusion of Objectivist philosophy in Wizards First Rule and when Cory Doctorow writes about intellectual property I want to run down to USC and strangle him.

25. Tidy ending or cliffhanger?

Finish the story, don't leave it up to me. When a book, or series, is done, it is done in my mind. If the author leaves unanswered questions, I will leave them unanswered and not speculate about them.

26. Morning reading, afternoon reading, or nighttime reading?

Lunch and nighttime.

27. Standalone or series?

I love a good standalone story, but being able to comeback and see what has been happening in the lives of characters I like. This is like asking Movie or TV series. A well made movie doesn't require a sequel, but a well made TV series deserves to continue.

28. Urban fantasy or high fantasy?

While I disagree with Michael Moorcock's Marxist critique of high fantasy as "bucolic bourgeois banality," I do tend to favor Urban Fantasy. Some of the folks over at Tenser's blog got up in arms about what he considered Urban Fantasy, so let me give an example of what I mean. I consider Fritz Lieber to be the master of Urban Fantasy. For me, Urban Fantasy is fantasy which takes place in an Urban environment and deals with the moral issues of industrialized society and high density living.

29. New or used?

New if it is new, used if it is out of print. Unlike Cory Doctorow, I like to see the authors I like get paid. I also like to see the people who got them published get paid, and the people who work at the little printing presses, and the people at the bookstores. New, it is hard enough for an author to make a living off their writing without a secondary market.

30. Favorite book of which nobody else has heard?

Like I have the hubris to claim to have "discovered" something. The Future of the Mass Audience by W. Russell Neumann. It isn't fiction, but it is a great speculation of what the future of entertainment will look like. It was written in 1991 and is a fairly accurate look.

31. Top 5 favorite genre books read last year?

I always hate "Top X" lists, but here are five I enjoyed:
Dzur by Steven Brust
The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Chinatown Deathcloud Peril by Paul Malmont
Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon
Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson


32. Top 5 favorite genre books of all time?

Here are five genre books I think everybody should read.

King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany
Elric of Melnibone by Michael Moorcock
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Dune by Frank Herbert
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein

Everyone should also read:

Beowulf
The Iliad by Homer
The Nibelungenlied
Hans Christian Andersen
The Brother's Grimm

33. 5 favorite genre series?

What is the obsession with top 5s?

I have enjoyed the following:

Thieve's World edited by Robert Asprin and Lynn Abbey
Wild Cards edited by George R.R. Martin
The Drizzt Series by R.A. Salvatore (totally mainstream, I know, sue me)
The John Carter Series by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Eternal Champion Saga by Michael Moorcock
and I'll add that the Chalion series by Lois McMaster Bujold will likely be up there when I am finally finished with the series

34. Top 5 favorite genre short stories?

Don't read enough short stories to provide a good list.

The Future Appears to be Behind Schedule

On January 12, at the Telvision Critics Association winter press tour in Pasadena, the Sci Fi Channel made two announcements that made cinerati's editor squeal with joy. Sadly, it appears that they are behind schedule on the release of one of products.

The first was the announcement of a new 22 episode series based on Flash Gordon featuring the classic character along with his dastardly foe Ming. SCI FI's representatives at the TCA described the new series stating, "Stellar adventures and heroic battles mark this inventive new take on the perennial science fiction classic." I am excited about the prospect of the series, but the "inventive new take" statement makes me reticent to run around giddily while squealing for joy, I am still squealing for joy. I hope that RHI Entertainment and producers Robert Halmi Sr. (Earthsea) and Robert Halmi Jr. (Farscape), remember to include the Plantetary Romance tone of the original concept. It was the Planetary Romance aspects, and not the SF elements, which really set Flash Gordon apart from Buck Rogers and similar SF serial.



Fans of Space Opera films should note that it was the original concept, and not some "inventive new take," which inspired George Lucas to create Star Wars and that the inclusion of Planetary Romance goddess Leigh Brackett in the screenwriting process of The Empire Strikes Back added to the tone of that film. I am hopeful, but skeptical given the dark tone of the new Battlestar Galactica, that the show will capture the wonder of the earlier narrative. Sadly, much of modern SF seems to think that "darkness" equals narrative complexity and forgets that hopeful utopian views of the future can be just as deep an analysis of today's problems. For every George Orwell and Aldous Huxley, there is an Edward Bellamy and Jules Verne.

As for the future being late, SCI FI promised to bring their deep entry into internetelevision to the internet on January 21, and I have yet to see hide or hair of the project. SCI FI already has their "shallow" entry into internetelevision, you can watch the most recent Dresden Files online and watch a good amount of Battlestar Galactica footage online (including online exclusive material), but I was anxiously awaiting their deep entry. SCI FI announced their broadband destination site (what I call internetelevision) SCI FI Drive-in at the TCAs claiming that it would launch on January 21st giving access to "cult films, serials, campy documentaries, and trailers...includ[ing] such films as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligare and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, not to mention the original Flash Gordon serial" (geeee!) Sadly, the only mention of SCI FI Drive-in I have been able to find on the SCI FI site are in the forums (booo!).

The Holy Words Will Be Obeyed!

These words are not just for the Yangs, but for the Com's as well.

You Know You Have Fallen into the Abyss of Gaming Geekdom When...

You order a movie from Netflix because, David Parlett, the author of "The Oxford History of Boardgames" was a game staging consultant for the film. I have finally stepped over that line and should be receiving Onegin from Netflix tomorrow afternoon. The Rotten Tomatoes crew, including Roger Ebert, don't think highly of the film about a bored St. Petersburg aristocrat played by Ralph Fiennes. Ebert found the film elegant, but with a dead center.

That's too bad. I have had a stream of disappointing movies in my mailbox lately. Not that this actually affects the reason I am going to watch the film. I am watching it to see what a game of Faro ought to look like when it is being played.

I am such a geek.

It's a Snap

I have now added a feature to the website which gives a preview window for any hyperlink you put the cursor over. For example, if you put the cursor over these words you will see Matt Forbeck's site. I chose that website because it was at that site where I was first introduced to the feature. You can apply this function to your website by visiting the Snap website and following a few simple steps.

Please feel free to hover over any hyperlink on this page, maybe even the following...

Unlocked Wordhoard
Rickety Contrivances
Order of the Stick
and naturally,
William Shatner or even...ShatnerVision

Doc Savage Lives!

The Man of Bronze had been out of print for fifteen long years. Those who wanted to introduce a new generation of readers to the simple pleasure of this pulp icon were forced to share prized copies of fragile paperbacks, hoping that the pages wouldn't fall out of the binding when the book was returned. It was the dilemma of the nostalgia fan. Do I recruit a new pulpster, risking the demolition of my valued tome, or do I promote the books praying that there are copies at the local used bookstore?

What to do, what to do?

Thankfully, Nostalgia Ventures has decided to make such difficult decisions moot. Starting mid-year 2006 Nostalgia Ventures has been reprinting the adventures of Doc Savage, and the Shadow, for fans new and old. So far the series of "Double Novel" reprints has four Doc Savage tales and six gripping Shadow narratives. A complete list of the books can be found at the Nostalgia Ventures website or at the Vintage Library

Some may find it confusing why I have such an affection for the pulps. They are often sexist, they are often xenophobic, and the wordsmithing of the texts often leaves something to be desired. My answer to all the objections is, "that is all beside the point." To the first two comments I would point out that the xenophobia and sexism of the pulp is a great lens through which to view the times in which the stories were written. I would also point out that the stories are often not as sexist as some covers might lend one to believe, though there are times when the stories are more sexist than the covers suggest. The stories I am most fond of tend to fall into the less sexist camp.

As for the xenophobia, I think it is important to see popular portrayals of other cultures from one's own past. How can we understand the obstacles that face us when talking to people from other cultures, who are often familiar with the ways they have been depicted in our entertainments, unless we are familiar with those representations? It should be pointed out that not all of the inaccurate portrayals of other cultures are xenophobic, sometimes they are quite the opposite (xenophilic) even when they are equally inaccurate in their portrayals.

What really matters to me about these stories is that they are so often entertaining. The word crafting might be weak, but the structures are sound and the pace exciting. If you like action, it is hard to dislike the pulps. Think of them like television, or direct to video movies, because that is the niche they filled. They were popcorn entertainment filled with the biases of the era in which they were written. Feel free to criticize those biases, but enjoy the ride as well.

A Care Package from a Dear Friend

When I arrived home from work the other day, I was greeted by a small parcel sitting in front of my screen door. I hadn't ordered any Amazon packages recently, at least not any unreceived Amazon packages, so I quickly looked at the return address. To my pleasant surprise, the box had been sent by my dear friend Jay. I hurriedly opened the package to see what treasures lay within, since Jay has a keen knowledge of many of my obsessions. The trove was better than expected. It was filled with fantastic fiction of the sort I adore, and included two extraordinary gems.

So what did Jay send?

Glad you asked.

• Citizen of the Galaxy by Robert Heinlein (1981 Ballantine edition)
• Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein (1974 Berkley Medallion edition)
• Farnham's Freehold by Robert Heinlein (1965 Signet edition)
• Tales from the White Hart by Arthur C. Clarke (1966 Ballantine)
• Justice, Inc. by "Kenneth Robeson" aka Paul Ernst (1972 Paperback Library)
• The Hate Master by "Kenneth Robeson" aka Paul Ernst (1973 Warner Paperback Library)
• The Fantastic Island by "Kenneth Robeson" aka W.Ryerson Johnson and Lester Dent (1966 Bantam books)
• The Sea Magician by "Kenneth Robeson" aka Lester Dent (1970 Bantam)
• The Stone Man by "Kenneth Robeson" aka Lester Dent (1976 Bantam)
• A Gent from Bear Creek by Robert E. Howard (1975 Zebra Books)
• Son of the White Wolf by Robert E. Howard (1978 Berkley Medallion)
• Pirates of Venus by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1979 Ace)
• The Mask of Fu Manchu by Sax Rohmer (1966 Pyramid)
• The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu by Sax Rohmer (1965 Pyramid)
• Tower of Zanid by L. Sprague deCamp (1963 Airmont)
• Day of the Giants by Lester del Rey (1964 Airmont)
• The Cactus Kid by Tom West and Kansas Guns -- Abridged by Paul Durst (1959 Ace Double Book)
• Winter Range by Al Cody and Pistol Whipper by Lee Floren (1960 Ace Double Books)
• The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham (1962 Crest Book)

I want to take a moment to highlight the two Sax Rohmer Fu Manchu novels, The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu and The Mask of Fu Manchu. I am a fan of this particular member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and am a proud owner of The Romance of Sorcery. Jay and I watched one of the old Fu Manchu movies, The Mask of Fu Manchu to be specific, starring Boris Karloff when we were in a film class together as undergrads. I was shocked at the film's ending when Nayland Smith throws the Sword of Genghis Khan into the ocean.
Smith's disdain for an artifact from Chinese history, admittedly one which could be used for world domination if it fell into the wrong hands, was a perfect example of British Imperialism and attitude of superiority. I wouldn't have been shocked if Smith's action was shown in a negative light, but it is shown as a good and necessary action. The boat scene, combined with my love of many Hong Kong martial arts films which show the other view of British Imperialism, has led me to swirl an idea in the back of my head. I eventually want to write a story where both Manchu and Smith are the villains.
The idea is still in a primordial state, but I think it is a pretty good one. It is admittedly high concept, and very much influenced by Marvel Comics' Master of Kung Fu, Grant Stockbridge's The Spider: Master of Men, Lester Dent's Doc Savage the Man of Bronze, and Jet Li's Wong Fei Hung (who would be anachronistic, but cool). If I can find a way to throw in Sun Wu Kung, I'll do that too. Hmm... maybe as "The Avenger," both are shapeshifters of a sort.
I have always found the Chinese nationalism of films like Once Upon a Time in China and Drunken Master II very compelling. I can only wonder what it would be like to have another culture pilfer the treasures of my nation's past to sell them as mantle placements.

As for the gems, A Gent from Bear Creek is a collection of Robert Howard's Breckinridge Elkin's stories which can be hard to find. Howard's name equals only Conan to some readers, but those people are really missing out on some good yarns. One of the joys of the Elkins stories is Howard's attempt to capture vernacular in the writing. It's not an easy thing to do without coming off as ridiculous. Manly Wade Wellman does a great job of it in his John stories, and Howard does a pretty bang up job himself, in part because it makes the "tall tale" aspect of the stories all the more convincing.

The other gem is the novel that one of my childhood favorite science fiction films is based on, The Day of the Triffids. In all honesty, I only have vague memories of the movie (similar to my Asphyx memories), but I really liked the movie as a kid. Hopefully, the novel will rekindle those memories and maybe even add some new ones.

Thanks Jay.