Blood & Rhetoric

I knew it had to end.

And truth be told, it was getting a bit monotonous. The cottage is a great place; but there’s only so much sitting in one place I can do before I start pining for a sleek, sexy computer in front me bursting with information and multitudes of blindingly-shiny other things.

(Yes I do get the irony of that statement, thanks.)

Not that I’m complaining or anything. Not really. I read a few books; got some writing done; got a great tan and etc. Good times. But now I’m ready for a longer and more adventurous vacation somewhere else in the world, and perhaps in the cruel Canadian winter time when the entire population is contemplating the sweet release of suicide. Maybe Chile? Argentina? China? Hmm? We’ll see.

One thing I certainly won’t miss is the massive hordes of blood thirsty mosquitoes covering every exposed inch of flesh at dusk.

(And no, DEET is not the answer. That stuff is dangerous and I will not give birth to mutant children sometime in the future when children actually become a desire and not just a cute pet-type thing other people have.)

But the bugs got to me to thinking about all those novels I’ve read where the hapless hero and/or heroine are wandering through the woods. And y’know what? I really can’t recall (at present) a single mention of insect harassment. Nothing that sticks out anyways. I distinctly remember in this tedious piece of navel-gazing garbage I couldn’t finish the doomed lovers running to their fates (gasp!) through a thick forest and having crazy sex in a forest and sleeping naked… in a fucking forest! In the fucking summer!

And it never even consciously occurred to me that there was anything wrong with any of those scenarios until this last week brought back the harsh realities of the natural world. And I’m talking harsh as in a million dollar cottage on a private lake harsh with barely a neighbour within shouting distance. So imagine a forest with no shelter in the oppressive heat of summer when the mosquitoes and flies and other critters are out at full force?

Egads.

Just something to think about. Oh and the whole insect-borne diseases like malaria thing…

Cottage time!

No phone. No internet. No television. No Work!

NO TECHNOLOGY!

Well there’s a boat I guess, and music and stuff of that nature.

And I will have personal writing to do like (hopefully) catching up on all my 2YN assignments. And I’m sure I’ll read several books.

But other than that it will be an entire week of: beer, rum, smokes, and enough red meat ingestion to kill a saner woman.

Basically, like last year, an entire week of THIS:

THIS:

And even, THIS:

There are drawbacks of course; being self-employed means no sweet company vacation pay. And when I get back, I’ll be slightly behind and racing like a mad woman to meet deadlines. But that doesn’t matter. Not for the next week it won’t; not as I’m laying on a dock in the sun and drinking or pathetically trying to learn how to wakeboard.

For those of you living in say, the freakin’ Bahamas, this won’t mean much; but, for us Canadians forced to hibernate like animals six months out of the year, it’s pure heaven.

After being snubbed four years in a row, Mary McDonnell (BSG’s President Laura Roslin) is rumored to be on the short list of ten potential nominees for the Best Actress in a Drama Emmy.

I will refrain from saying “that’s just frackin great.” Because it’s just too obvious, really.

The rest of the cast remains at large. And keep in mind it just the short list, which will eventually be whittled down to five final nominees. And also keep in mind, it’s still just a rumour and if history has taught us anything, she will not remain on the still-a-rumour-short-list.

Prolific science fiction author Andre Norton left behind a puzzle of a last will that has caused conflict over her estate amongst the many greedy friends and family who each want a piece of the pie. Norton began writing in the 1930s and defied gender stereotypes by becoming the first woman to win the Grand Master of Fantasy Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America and the Nebula Grand Master Award.

Time travel isn’t happening. Hollywood needs to get over it.

Or do they? I have no clue. I’m not big on time travel plots in books or movies since it really does seem so implausible and the story tends to revolve around the same cliche of any small change in the past drastically changing the future and blah blah blah don’t make out with the younger version of your mom blah. That scenario seems to unlikely for me and mostly I’m just bored by it.

Lastly, because I’m lazy: Vote for the Top 10 Obsure Books over at Femenist SF.

“wobble-shop”

A shop where intoxicants are sold without a license.

John Farmer & E. Henley, Slang and Its Analogues, 1890-1904

And in the spirit of intoxication and celebration — HAPPY 4th OF JULY, AMERICANS!

“felo de se”

Anglo-Latin felo, felon, and de se, of himself.

He that deliberately puts an end to his own existence, or commits an unlawful malicious act; the consequences of which is his own death; as if, attempting to kill another, he runs upon his antagonist’s sword; or, shooting at another, the gun bursts and kills himself. The party must be of years of discretion and in its senses; else it is no crime.

Sir William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, 1765-69

Megan McArdle from The Atlantic wrote an article last week on explaining science fiction to women that managed to (rightfully so) piss a lot of women off.

One of the more offensive points she had was this little gem:

“Those of you who pitch science fiction to wives and girlfriends who do not enjoy it are probably saying something along the following lines: “Space ships! Alien monsters! Men in tights!” Instead, for women who find that sort of thing distasteful, talk about it as a fairy tale–only a fairy tale with science instead of magic. The basic emotional space it taps is the same.”

Yes, that’s right. Sell it as a magical fairy tale populated by melodrama and unicorns and TRUE LOVE CONQUERING ALL! We chicks just eat that shit up like crazy! That and nothing else! For realz.

Um no. Have we seriously not yet passed all this needless gender warring? Or, much like fitting science fiction and fantasy into neat genres and subgenres, do we still seriously maintain as a species that men and women are so fundamentally different that our tastes simply don’t and can’t overlap?

It’s like watching a bad comedien spin his outdated “women are like this, and men are like that” jokes to an audience where one half of it is rolling their eyes, and the other is too stupid to know any better.

It’s as offensive as marvelling over the idea that black people like reading and writing science fiction.

And ultimately it’s just a moot point; one that I’m tired of. I’m a woman. I do like romantic plots (and unicorns too, actually) but I also love hard science fiction, and I shouldn’t have to qualify that statement or explain myself.

This chick does a better job than I of explaining why this is so stupid, but I wanted to add my voice to the disconted masses of women wondering where this bullshit stems from.

“pubble”

Full, plump; usually spoken of corn or fruit.

John Brockett, Glossary of North Country Words, 1825

Again, I found this via Nathan Bransford’s blog: Vanguard Press, Imprint of the Future.

Where Jonathan Karp’s Imprint 12 focuses on a small catalogue of books along with intense advertising and promotion to generate sales; Vanguard Press, run by Roger Cooper takes an even more unusual approach in that it asks the author to share in the initial investment.

Translation: NO advance, but a much larger investment put into marketing along with higher royalties and monthly paycheques being paid out based on book sales.

The American Film Institute recently released a list of the top ten greatest films in fantasy and science fiction. The science fiction list is fairly decent. The fantasy list….um, Groundhog Day? Are you people fucking joking? No. They’re not. John Scalzi’s not touching the fantasy list either (yet) but he posts an interesting blog over at AMCtv asking the readers what their top list is for science fiction.

His five are: The Matrix (1999); Ghost in the Shell (1995); The Incredibles (2004); 12 Monkeys (1995); Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004).

I agree with The Matrix and Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind, further on my list of best science fiction films:

Solaris (1972): The original Russian film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky based on the novel Solaris by Polish science fiction author Stanisław Lem. Themes of love, loss, the nature of existence and our memory abound in this gloomy, existential masterpiece.
Solaris (1992): Yeah that’s right. Again. Can you tell I’m a huge Solaris fan all around? The 1992 version is directed by Steven Soderbergh, and stars George Clooney. This version focuses too much on the relationship of the leads, but it is a stunning and under-rated film regardless. Read the book, watch the movies, prepare to ponder the mysteries of life and God.
Children of Men (2006): directed by Alfonso Cuarón and loosely adapted from P. D. James’s 1992 novel The Children of Men. Starring Clive Owen.
Dark City (1998): a science fiction film noir directed by Alex Proyas. I still remember walking out of the theatre after seeing this for the first time with friends. I was 14 and literally disoriented and dizzy, stumbling around the mall, and talking about the implications of humanity and memory and God (I seem big on these themes, don’t I?) this film had introduced to me. Brilliant.
Blade Runner (1982): the cyberpunk classic directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford. Eyeballs. Thumbs. Eyeballs and thumbs….

I could go on, but I won’t.

Not today anyway.

Ballista magazine calling for submissions: Ballista publishes ‘fresh and inventive tales considering the supernatural, psychological, paranormal, modern horror, mythos, macabre, SF, dark fantasy or just the downright bizarre.’

More information on their website.

Locus Award Winners Announced.

In science fiction, we have Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, and for fantasy Terry Pratchett’s Making Money: A Novel of Discworld.

An interesting discussion on Designer Babies.

Survival of the fittest and natural selection have taken a back seat to the almighty SCIENCE! Is it any wonder we’re doomed as a race?

Terry Goodkind changes genres:

“Terry Goodkind’s next book will not be published by Tor. With the release of The Confessor last year, the Sword of Truth saga is officially complete and now Mr. Goodkind is looking to switch genres from fantasy to mainstream fiction. To do so he has joined the ranks of Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler and Jack Higgins by signing a three book deal with G. P. Putnam’s Sons.”

Guillermo del Toro On Starting Hobbit Preparation. I am nerdily excited about this.

Galleycat blogs about Can You Sell One Story By Telling Another? An alternative to the standard booktrailer — which I LOATHE — in the form of backstory. Now that has promise. That actually sounds interesting — provided it’s well done of course, though that holds true for anything, even the standard, dreaded book trailer that sets my teeth on edge in all it’s cheesy badly-produced glory.

A Conversation With Jacqueline Carey: one of my favourite modern authors. If you haven’t read her Kushiel’s Legacy trilogy, you’re missing out. I mean who doesn’t love sado-masochistic sex and political intrigue? Hm?

More endless and (ultimately) fruitless conversations of science fiction and fantasy generes and subgenres.

According to Alexa, these are the 20 most popular SF sites.