tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88349097388643890102024-02-22T12:05:54.486+01:00Zolder WritersZolder Writers: Writers blog about reading.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8834909738864389010.post-69073560626224116342013-06-15T13:39:00.000+02:002013-06-15T13:48:37.271+02:005 Things You Should be Doing if You're [an] Unemployed [Writer]Career building and job search websites have a tendency to distill career search advice into list form. Can such advice apply to the unemployed writer as well? I think so, and I've re-purposed a list from <a href="http://www.careerealism.com/things-should-doing-unemployed/">careerealism.com</a> into an even pithier form:<br />
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<ol>
<li><b>Volunteer</b> - "volunteering can increase your chances if you're strategic about it."</li>
<li><b>Keep your skills current</b> - "Spend time each day building that skill."</li>
<li><b>Network</b> - "At a temporary dead end with your current contacts? Look beyond traditional networking events."</li>
<li><b>Freelance</b> - "a good way to boost your skills, resume, portfolio, professional network, income, and confidence."</li>
<li><b>Build an online presence</b> - "Get found online. Create on online portfolio to showcase your work."</li>
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Am I wrong, or do these prompts inspire specific things you could be doing?</div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8834909738864389010.post-60757662114108324882013-06-02T20:06:00.001+02:002013-06-02T20:06:16.126+02:00Writers Blog About Eating, Part 2Following on Tori's post, I wanted to contribute my two cents- and not just because the East and the South of Amsterdam were totally ignored! (I suppose that's the point of cheap eats: you go with what you know, and that usually ends up being in your own neighborhood.)<br />
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As a "global" city, you can find every type of food in Amsterdam, but given its small size (801,000 citizens in the 2013 census), it does not do all of them well. For example, the Italian food in Amsterdam is forgetful (and do yorself a favor and skip pizza until you leave). What passes as Mexican food has been thoroughly "Europeanized" for local taste buds. What passes for Greek food here is borderline indedible.<br />
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That being said, when Amsterdam does well, it does very well indeed. Some of it is an event rather than a meal - like the only Micheln-starred Asian restaurant in the Netherlands: <a href="http://www.yamazato.nl/en" target="_blank">Yamazato</a> at the Okura Hotel. Much of it is no-nonsense food, like the Dutch themselves, and will fill your belly with good quality food for 5 euros for lunch, and 15 euros for dinner.<br />
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Going with what I know, I will kick off with the place I visited two to three times per month: Tjin's.<br />
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Tjin's is a fine example of <i>Surinaams </i>cuisine, though heavily weighted towards its Chinese, rather than its African or Indian (AKA <i>Hindustaans</i>) roots. This is because Mr. Tchin was, well, of Chinese descent. Mr. Tchin has passed on, but his family is still at it. You can get all the usual Surinamese fare, but I strongly recommend their sauto soup - a chicken soup with tauge, spring onion and spices) served with a side of white rice and dollop of pureed <i>adjoema</i> pepper (looks like a habanero, smells like a habanero, but sweeter and a tad milder). This is the perfect meal to cure or fight off a cold during those wet windy days, which sadly seems to include every day between May and August.<br />
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I never visited their flagship Van Woustraat location just off the Albert Cuyp Market, I only frequented the less glamorous sister, found literally under a bridge at the <a href="http://www.tjins.nl/storelocator.html" target="_blank">Bijlmerpoort</a>. It looks like a skid row soup kitchen that needs renovation following a grease fire. In all fairness, they have replaced some of those cheap plastic chairs with other cheap plastic chairs that do not have cracks in the seat that pinch your rear. They have replaced some of the sadder linoleum and recently covered some of the lighting and plumbing fixtures with a false ceiling reminiscent of rattan. You get the idea. Helpfully, there is also a map of Suriname on the wall, in case you have no clue where such diverse cultures combined so maginificently in the kitchen.<br />
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Do not let appearances fool you. Amsterdammers know this is still the best sauto soup in the city, which makes it the best in the Netherlands. That probably makes it the best in the world. A large soup with a mango juice will set you back 5 euros and 50 cents. </div>
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<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8834909738864389010.post-91512328683213795012013-02-27T13:33:00.001+01:002013-02-27T13:34:45.999+01:00Writers Blog About EatingI've decided to manipulate our tagline and focus a bit on eating for awhile. Writers do need to eat and eat cheaply. A little bit of hunger may be romantic and even good for your brain, but nothing beats a satisfying and inexpensive meal. <br />
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Since moving to Amsterdam, I have avoided eating out because it is usually a disappointing and expensive experience. Lately, however, the tables are turning for the better -- or my standards are getting lower. You be the judge.<br />
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So here is my Google map of cheap and satisfying eats in Amsterdam. I look forward to a bit of collaboration. The rules are that the food must be both good and cheap.<br />
<iframe width="525" height="500" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=205031382725804102533.0004cfca8cd77c5bf6b26&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=52.369835,4.877758&spn=0.052405,0.089951&z=13&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small>View <a href="https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=205031382725804102533.0004cfca8cd77c5bf6b26&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=52.369835,4.877758&spn=0.052405,0.089951&z=13&source=embed" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">Best Cheap Eats in Amsterdam</a> in a larger map</small>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8834909738864389010.post-81049548477563484412012-12-16T13:11:00.003+01:002012-12-17T23:20:04.180+01:00How to be a Productive and Valued Member of a Writers' Group <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwqJUkBWxoOXjG29ExnI0l2QAGaCAXfLMxSFiEbew_I_RH3pyE3T-djtL876zyoo_pqsQAsyYrZFzgcB7Y1YcT6xs1yvaMcVhz4pGO-nc8MS5Z1N71YEhehmHMMaw0CSQlO63hdHCDsQw/s1600/Snoopy+the+writer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwqJUkBWxoOXjG29ExnI0l2QAGaCAXfLMxSFiEbew_I_RH3pyE3T-djtL876zyoo_pqsQAsyYrZFzgcB7Y1YcT6xs1yvaMcVhz4pGO-nc8MS5Z1N71YEhehmHMMaw0CSQlO63hdHCDsQw/s320/Snoopy+the+writer.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>How to be a Productive and Valued Member of a Writers' Group</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>I may not be a bestselling author, but I do know what it takes to be a great member of a writing group. It takes a combination of practice, empathy, and resilience. In fact, it takes much of what it does to be a great writer. Here are some tips. </i></span></div>
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<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Read. </li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>So what if you don't like post-modern horror.</b>Read outside your comfort zone. Challenge yourself to learn from and enjoy reading books and stories that you normally would avoid. There are lists of great books of every possible type all over the place. Choose a few. Read them. Just fucking read already. </span></li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Did I say anything about reading? </b>Read everything from the back of the cereal box to Tolstoy.</span></li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>But the new James Bond is opening tonight...</b>Show up as often as you can. If you only show up when your own work is being critiqued, you will quickly fall out of favor with the group. </span></li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Was that middle, end, beginning? </b>Learn the rules of storytelling. You can do this by reading. Yes reading. Did I mention reading?</span></li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Orange you glad I didn't say banana? </b>Does the hero always have to reluctant? Do we always have to like the point of view? Once you learn the rules, break them. At least once. (Oh wait, that was a writing tip...Oh well.)</span></li>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>9 Tips for Critiquing Others</b></span></div>
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<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Why do you keep harping on reading? </b>Have you been reading? Because if you haven’t, you have no business critiquing.</span></li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Share the love. </b>Be generous. Your critique is important, but your generosity and encouragement as a fellow writer and reader are even more so. Help the other members of your group become better writers by praising what they do well and pointing out what could be better. </span></li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Establish trust. </b>This might mean restraining your wildly inventive and brilliant ideas for a session or two while you get to know the group and how they communicate. But there will be time for you to shine as you become a valued member of the group.</span></li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Nice is as nice does. </b>Nice doesn’t make for good critique. Once you have established trust in the group, you can become more critical. </span></li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Lock up your inner snark. </b>Zingers aren’t critique.</span></li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>It's not your story. </b>When you critique, remember the writer may not be writing for you. She may be addressing someone else. It’s your job to make her more successful in her storytelling. It isn’t your job to change the writing into something you would prefer.</span></li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Know your limitations. </b>If you’ve been reading, then you know what you like and what you don’t like. If a book has been read and loved by many and you can’t stand it, then that is something worth noting. Why don’t you like it? A little self awareness will help you become better at critiquing work you don’t like.</span></li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>They heard you the first time. </b>When you find yourself (and you will) in the position of trying to convince the other critical readers of your take on the piece under review, stop before it becomes an endless loop. Say your piece, trust that the writer has heard it, and move on. Trust me, that's easier to write than to do. (For me, at least.)</span></li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Lose the red pen. </b>Critique groups are not editorial groups. There are times when you just cannot avoid picking up the red pen and rearranging words, fixing punctuation, and rewriting sentences. This should never be done for more than a few paragraphs. You are not an editor. You are there to engage with the writing in a meaningful and careful manner that goes beyond fixing poor grammar or a misshapen sentence. This can be extremely difficult. I find the group helps me formalize my critique. So do time and practice.</span></li>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>8 Tips for Getting Critique</b></span></div>
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<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Mirror mirror on the wall... </b>If what you want from a critique group is an affirmation of your talent, then get an agent and be done with it. Don’t burden the group with your easily bruised ego.</span></li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b>How do you keep your armor so shiny? </b>Try to drop your defensive posture. When you have a chance to respond to the critique, use that time to ask questions and get more out of the group. (Hat tip to Eric for pointing this out in his comment.)</li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Know when you need critique and when you need editing. </b>If you don’t want to change your work, then don’t submit it. Give it to an editor.</span></li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Set expectations for the group. </b>Tell them what you want to learn. Give them guidelines. Every submission you make to the group should be accompanied by 3 questions you want your critical readers to think about. </span></li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Don’t wait for something to be perfect. </b>You joined the group for their help. Let them help. Don’t try to impress them with your expertise. </span></li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>I can't stand up for falling down. </b>Sometimes the best way to succeed is to fail. It’s often easier to make a horrid piece of storytelling great than to improve a mediocre one. </span></li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Stand up for yourself. </b>Avoid the critiqued-to-death story. You need to have enough confidence in your story to take the critique that improves your work and leave the other stuff behind. </span></li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Remember a project is never finished. </b>It’s abandoned. There is only so close to perfect you can get.</span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">(UPDATE: Thanks to Jackie for advice on the lead ins... and for the best ones.)</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8834909738864389010.post-74554766233406753792012-11-01T16:34:00.000+01:002013-06-15T12:55:56.854+02:00Cringeworthy (part 3 of 3)<br />
What is it about writing so powerful that it evokes a physical reaction from the reader? Beyond cringing, the best and most memorable writing made me exhibit other physical effects that I began classifying in my previous entry and will conclude here:<br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>Plaatsvervangende schaamte</i></b><br />
<i><br /></i>The above mouthful is actually wonderful Dutch term that means literally "place-replacing shame." It's an intense feeling of embarrassment for someone else, usually someone who has no idea how shameful or embarrassing they're behaving. It normally occurrs during <i><a href="http://www.mtv.com/shows/16_and_pregnant/season_4/series.jhtml" target="_blank">16 and Pregnant</a></i>, <i><a href="http://www.mtv.com/shows/jersey_shore/season_6/series.jhtml" target="_blank">Jersey Shore</a></i> or any talent show variation of <i>Britain's Got Talent </i>or <i>Voice of Holland,</i> symptoms include: shifting in one's seat, groaning, covering one's eyes, or covering the ears then squeezing the eyes shut and shouting "la-la-la-la-la!" at full volume until the sensation subsides.<br />
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The talent shows require lots of work to bring to our screens - including casting calls and pre-auditions before they even get to the screen. And the thing is, what takes a cast of shameless individuals and a television production crew months to achieve, Jonathan Franzen is able to accomplish with a few pages of prose.<br />
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In many ways, Franzen is the most subtle entry on my Cringeworthy list: no psychopaths, no drug abuse (well, maybe a little), and no alternate universes - just a well-developed character, who has rock bottom. The most cringeworthy example is found in <em>The Corrections</em>, where the character not only hits rock bottom, but he falls through the floor to continue his ignominious plunge. That character Chip Lambert, the middle child of a fractured Midwestern family. The family is dealing no tonly their own individual troubles, but the rapidly declining health of the family patriarch/bully that brings them altogether for one last Christmas.<br />
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While each character in <em>The Corrections</em> has his or her own unique set of troubles, it's Chip's that's the most capricious and outrageous of the bunch. We meet him in New York City, tenuously hanging onto his identity as a "alternative" writer type. It's an identity that firmly rejects his Midwestern past and consequently - his parents. This is not his first attempt at such <a href="http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/hierarchyneeds_2.htm" target="_blank">self actualization</a>. He was already a middling professor of literature at a liberal private college - until he realized he wouldn't get tenure, and decided the best way to deal with it was to take some MDMA and have sex with (and eventually obsess over) one of his students.<br />
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Chip escapes to New York City to remake himself, but when we first meet him, this latest iteration of a life is also unravelling: he's flailing over a movie script (which you can sense is even more middling than his not-so-mad skillz as a college docent), his girlfriend is dumping his ass, and the aforementioned ass is flat broke. As if that's not bad enough, his annoying parents are visiting him. He's got to feed and entertain them and never <em>ever</em> let them know that he's not successful. So he goes to Whole Foods filling a basket full of groceries he can't afford. He ends up stuffing a prime piece of salmon down his pants. It's ice cold and he's got to get the fuck out of there, but now he's stuck chatting to the husband of of the woman who can potentially make-or-break his film script. The guy still thinks Chip is cool, so Chip is forced to humor him while the fish starts melting down his crotch...<br />
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It was at this point I threw the book down, squeezed my eyes shut and started shouting "la-la-la-la-la!" I can deal with rock bottom, but I can't deal with people who don't realize they're at rock bottom and continue digging - a key theme in the book. Chip Lambert expends so much energy keeping up his various facades, that he has to wait until he's broke, jobless, and jacket-less on a country road in Latvia before he begins reflecting and redeeming himself. It's no surprise that this literary novel has garnered so much recognition. Franzen doesn't need fantastical devices or outlandish settings to make me twist and turn in my seat: "real life" and the real world are clearly outrageous enough.<br />
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- ChrisAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8834909738864389010.post-64626914949397213022012-10-26T23:21:00.001+02:002012-10-26T23:21:26.571+02:00The Speech SqueezeMy most recent peace on Iran commissioned by Article 19:<br />
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<em>Learning the language of self-censorship<br />
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Poker. Rumi. The US Postal Service motto: Neither snow nor rain nor heat…Serendipity. All have their roots in ancient Persia. No matter how much you think you know about Iran, there’s always more. It’s no surprise, then, that you know so little before boarding a plane to take you to Tehran.<br />
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Maybe you’re nervous. Pulling the unfamiliar scarf close around your head. Tucking in loose strands as the plane rattles over the Alborz mountains for its landing. You expect prying eyes, secrecy, and suspicion. What you don’t expect is the friendly welcome from strangers and family, the chaos at the airport, the sheer number of women in black hijab everywhere you look.<br />
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The first week you are in Iran is a revelation. Everyone you meet speaks to you. Strangers try out a few words of English, speak to you in simple Persian. They express opinions. Slam the government. Make jokes about clerics. Shout out: We love you miss, in heavily accented English.<br />
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There are people and cars everywhere. You see women in sheer headscarves braving the treacherous pavement in high heels and challenging the limits of acceptable hijab. You see daredevil teenagers roller blading in and out of traffic and up and down the cement steps in Tehran’s largest park.<br />
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Read more at <a href="http://www.article19.org/azad-resources.php/resource/3447/en/The%20Speech%20Squeeze" target="_blank">Article 19</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8834909738864389010.post-236901957758457542012-10-21T15:50:00.000+02:002012-10-22T22:02:26.990+02:00Cringeworthy (part 2 of 3)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Close up of <i>Marching through Georgia</i>, by S.M. Stirling</td></tr>
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What is it about writing so powerful that it evokes a physical reaction from the reader? Beyond cringing, the best and most memorable writing made me exhibit other physical effects that I began classifying in my previous entry and have continued here:<br />
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<b>Insomnia</b><br />
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SF, fantasy, and alt history author S.M. Stirling wrote a trilogy of books in the 1980 and 90s that are now referred to as the <i>Domination</i> saga - a <a href="http://users.accesscomm.ca/geis/draka/history.html" target="_blank">dystopian alternate history</a> where a militaristic, slave-holding "anti-America" in an industrialized Africa conquers Europe, Asia, and finally - the world.<br />
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In Stirling's books, the British Cape Colony of Drakia (our South Africa) absorbed far more Loyalist refugees that in our world after the American Revolution, as well countless refugees from the Confederacy during America's Civil War. Culturally embittered by this defeat, the descendants of these settlers begin their systematic conquest, enslavement, and industrialization of Africa.<br />
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When the first book, <i>Marching Through Georgia</i> begins, The Colony of Drakia has become "The Domination of the Draka" - a society based on conquest now in pursuit of territory and resources during the "Eurasian War" (their world's version World War II). What ensues in this first book is a graphic account of small-unit combat between elite Draka airborne soldiers (male <i>and</i> female) accompanied by an American journalist, against armored regiment of German <i>Waffen</i>-SS in the Caucasus - with the occasional Soviet partisan thrown in.<br />
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Don't let the cover fool you. Yes, this is pulpy military fiction, but what's riveting is the fascinating and horrific world Stirling has created. He has given us the Confederate States of America that could have been: a world of lush plantations and dehumanizing factory towns; a refined ruling class that preserve natural beauty even as their mines dispose of broken workers as they do slurry. Stirling has taken great pains to describe this civilization, economy, social mores, history, and a culture influenced by European immigrants such as Nietzsche (when the Draka still accepted outsiders). Stirling even creates a dialect of English embossed by Confederate descendants.<br />
<br />
In the second book, <i>Under the Yoke</i>, the Domination has gained control of Eurasia from the English Channel to the East China Sea. While ostensibly a Le Carre-style story of an OSS man on a mission behind enemy lines, <i>Under the Yoke </i>is really a study of the society the Draka begin establishing in Europe. The picture he paints isn't a pretty one. On a broad level, European institutions, moral leadership, and education are wiped out. On the ground level, the reader must witness the awful repercussions of warfare since ancient times wreaked on the protagonists - destruction, rape, pillage, torture - not as some tragic byproduct of Draka conquest, but as a cornerstone of Draka <i>policy</i>. Their culture is conquest, and they've turned domination into a science. The hapless Europeans (foremost among them a Polish nun, who's forced into servitude as a clerk on a new plantation) stand no chance. The remaining free people on earth realize too late that the rules of warfare, decency or simply mercy do not apply to Stirling's Draka. They are unconquerable Spartans. They are the Roman Empire at its peak, but unlike the Romans, they're not going to fall. Once they master genetic engineering in the third book <i>The Stone Dogs</i>, they become the true Supermen of Nietzsche's dreams.<br />
<br />
Seeing the yoke applied so personally, step-by-painful-step in <i>Under the Yoke</i> and the third book <i>The Stone Dogs</i>, was physically exhausting. There is simply no hope, and it's awful watching one protagonist after another fail and perish. I found myself wide awake at night, poking holes in Stirling's assumptions and postulations: how could their weapons development be so much better than America's? How could they have conquered Afghanistan and China when no one else has done so (and successfully held it)? How could they not fall apart from within? How could they be so bereft of mercy or human decency?<br />
<br />
Although Stirling does answer some of these within the books (and other authors tackle them in the anthology entitled <i>Drakas!</i>) the author has taken great pains to point out that it is - after all - a dystopia. This is the story where everything <i>does</i> go wrong for the good guys. It says it right there on the cover "You don't know how lucky you are boys." Perhaps that's the source of my insomnia: the darkest dreams alway bear a frightening resemblance to waking reality.<br />
<br />
To make it worse, <i>Stone Dogs</i> and the <i>Drakas!</i> anthology (and a fourth throwaway SF book called <i>Drakon</i>) explain how the Draka have also mastered inter-dimensional travel. The authors don't playfully suggest that the Draka might leap out of a wormhole into our world; they warn us that they're already here.<br />
<br />
As if I didn't already have enough trouble sleeping.<br />
<br />
- Chris<br />
<br />
<br />
Next entry: <i>plaatsvervangende schaamte</i> thanks to Jonathan Franzen.<br />
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8834909738864389010.post-65084676592388860482012-10-08T13:06:00.000+02:002012-10-22T21:39:49.892+02:00Cringeworthy (Part 1 of 3)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0N7sw7iA5JI/UG83YXRHj_I/AAAAAAAAAD4/-U7Xx4g1brQ/s1600/sc009253bc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="317" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0N7sw7iA5JI/UG83YXRHj_I/AAAAAAAAAD4/-U7Xx4g1brQ/s400/sc009253bc.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>American Psycho</i>, by Brett Easton Ellis (UK 1st edition)</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
What is it about writing so powerful that it evokes a physical reaction from the reader? I don't refer to the cheap thrills of an airport purchase or arousal from a dime store bodice ripper, I mean fiction that pulls you in and doesn't let go. I mean writing that sets up a character, a scene, and a plot that is so convincing, so effective, that you cringed while reading. Okay, maybe you didn't cringe, but perhaps you had to take a deep breath before continuing, or maybe you put it down and walked away. I've cringed, but amongst the best writing I've exhibited a number of physical effects beyond cringing. I've finally decided to classify my symptoms along with the authors who caused my distress:<br />
<br />
<b>Nausea, cold sweat, vertigo</b><br />
<br />
When the blade and the blood first appear in <i>American Psycho, </i>by Bret Easton Ellis, it's only after you've been lulled by the first 100 or so pages of the glamorous-yet-rote life of a yuppie investment banker in 1980s Manhattan. Patrick Bateman seems to have it all: a cushy, high-profile job, a string of girlfriends, and a fine apartment on the Upper West Side. In reality he's miserable, in a cutthroat race with his peers to have the finest business cards, the newest electronic equipment, and the hottest reservations in town. As with any race for consumption, Patrick is destined to lose. He seems to know this, and his anguish, fears, and frustration regularly erupt in fits of predatory violence.<br />
<br />
He starts by spontaneously victimizing a homeless man and his dog. From there, the violence - mostly premeditated - escalates in quantity, intensity, and sadism. There's usually a pause in between each orgy of butchery - perhaps a visit to a new restaurant, or a work out session - but then the body count resumes its climb: street walkers, high-end call girls, prep school girlfriends (Bateman conflates all the three), yuppie competitors, an unfortunate jellyfish, and even the occasional cop.<br />
<br />
Nothing is left to the imagination here. To paraphrase <a href="http://scottmccloud.com/2-print/1-uc/index.html">Scott McCloud</a>, the reader is not a silent accomplice to crimes happening "off-camera," instead the reader is a silent <i>witness, </i>helpless while reading very clinical descriptions of torture and finally murder. While it's possible to make it unscathed through a singular scene, the pointless - and apparently plotless (at least at the outset) - violence is unrelenting, and has a cumulative effect on the stomach and psyche. For me, there was no fighting the urge to put the book down, get some fresh air, talk to other people, and tell myself everything was gonna be all right.<br />
<br />
The consume-brag-dismay-kill zoetrope plays over and over, until you realize that it's Bateman's tacit, reluctant acceptance of his life that <i>is </i>the story. Despite his despicable nature, it was difficult for me to completey hate Patrick Bateman. Perhaps it's the alienation he suffers as an anti-God. Perhaps it's the remote chance that he hasn't committed these killings at all - except in his head. That you can somehow sympathize with a creature who lashes out (consequence-free) at a world he's seemingly trapped in is a tribute to Ellis' writing.<br />
<br />
I may read it again one day, to determine if he really kills or not. It may be a while, though. Years later, it's still hard for me to look at German brushed steel kitchen appliances or high thread count luxury bed sheets once the mind's eye has seen them with splattered human fat and dripping, atramentous ichor.<br />
<br />
<b>Chronic itchiness / sensation of bugs crawling on your skin</b><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SC2SvyNMjlY/UG83bVtYKwI/AAAAAAAAAEA/9Is7NF05T4o/s1600/sc0092ce5a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SC2SvyNMjlY/UG83bVtYKwI/AAAAAAAAAEA/9Is7NF05T4o/s400/sc0092ce5a.jpg" width="251" /></a></td></tr>
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Basically, <i>anything</i> written by Irvine Welsh is enough to make you shift in you seat as if you've got crotch rot. <i>Trainspotting</i> is the obvious top contender for its detailed explanations of the ins-and-outs of heroin use. Do you know what kinds of scabs and abscesses can form on the skin when you shoot too long and too often in the same spot on your arm? Or between your toes? Or on your penis? Aficionados of Welsh will demand places on the podium for the necrophilia and bestiality in <em>Acid House</em>, the terrible skin and colonic conditions of the dirty cop in <em>Filth</em>, or the pub porn and rape in <em>Porno</em>.<br />
<br />
Heroin. Coke. Ecstasy. Sex. Power. No matter the drug of choice in his novels, novellas, and short stories, Irvine Welsh's true talent lies in his ability to give you a colorful character who's life is a runaway train headed for the buffers. His stories have forced me to laugh and cringe on a number of levels. The gun that goes off at the end of each story is right there in plain sight - one last score that <i>can't</i> go wrong, one last drink, or a chance for revenge - and I itch like mad waiting for the self-destructive protagonist to reach for it. When it finally goes off with its usual disastrous consequences, the character gives a figurative shrug of the shoulders. They may be dead, widowed, dismembered, banished, or incarcerated, but they "didnae gie a fuck" in the first place. "Ye ken?" <br />
<br />
In his 2009 anthology, <i>Reheated Cabbage</i>, Welsh dials it back a bit, but he still can't let <i>Trainspotting </i>favorite Francis Begbie get through Christmas lunch without chinning his sister's boyfriend. (I laughed aloud at that one; it was like a high school reunion where the crazy kid shows up and is still reliably crazy.) He does grant reprieve to two other recurring characters in the short story "I am Miami." Oh sure, they're still self-destructive - what with their drink and drug abuse - but the repercussions at the climax of the story (during a rave) are buffeted by a sensible girlfriend and their fearsome grammar school teacher - Albert Black, who's inadvertantly come along for the ride. Perhaps even Irvine Welsh himself has become exhausted by nihilism, and finally made a little room for redemption?<br />
<br />
Next entry: Insomnia with S.M. Stirling and <i>plaatsvervangende schaamte</i> thanks to Jonathan Franzen.<br />
<br />
- ChrisAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8834909738864389010.post-88985628403769839072012-09-23T19:23:00.001+02:002012-10-09T00:32:27.103+02:00The Brussels Sprouts of Science Fiction<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQlX2BD5Jqk_kWZGH2iBYzBO6qG3r-cgsVA39yFBoAkemb1ze_tJBvbgs56nCN3bb9shx4vqAXif85QCFyARAOc-fTkfHeWuCU5gKDPU9MMH_sLIRERR1TJiHrNzkKQVyyy9arWNzFfGH-/s1600/killer+tomatoes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQlX2BD5Jqk_kWZGH2iBYzBO6qG3r-cgsVA39yFBoAkemb1ze_tJBvbgs56nCN3bb9shx4vqAXif85QCFyARAOc-fTkfHeWuCU5gKDPU9MMH_sLIRERR1TJiHrNzkKQVyyy9arWNzFfGH-/s200/killer+tomatoes.jpg" width="130" /></a></div>
Don't worry. This isn't a post about <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080391/">Killer Tomatoes</a> or their equivalent. (Not that there's anything wrong with loving B-films. Killer Tomatoes have their place.)<br />
<br />
I sometimes like to think of sci-fi books as food, since they are, in essence, food for the brain (or food for thought, if you will). Things like comic books and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Upcoming-Star-Trek-Novels/lm/R1ZUO01FR3AS7Q">Star Trek novelettes</a> and quirky/kitchy anthologies organized around a central hokey theme are fun. They are the pop tarts and candy bars of the sci-fi world. My unrefined brain-palate could graze on these all day and never tire (It's true. There have definitely been days I have spent in bed or on park benches just devouring this stuff.) <br />
<br />
But my problem is that I have super-smart friends. The kind of friends with discriminating tastes. They only consume the pineapple-glazed seitan cutlets and brussels sprouts of science fiction. They know their <a href="http://www.asimovonline.com/asimov_home_page.html">Assimov</a> from their <a href="http://www.benbova.net/">Bova</a>, and have memorized passages of <a href="http://www.ursulakleguin.com/">Ursula Le Guin</a> just because they liked the way the words fit together to describe a concept. Every now and then we chat Lovecraft (for he's one of the rare writers who is both pop tart and brussels sprout), but by and large I embarass them with my geeky love for sci fi with questionable literary merit. <br />
<br />
And when the embarassment gets to be too bad, I am punished with a brussels sprouts assignmnet. I promised a friend I would read any book they thought I really couldn't afford to be without.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsE3El0gCXEyAOtVQeZokb8xj7F1tUFMkBTT0kUCXmg4oBGuE9c_xj59diqI8kXNcdH280Lze6UwGcEHO1CUeYG7XElXIPCbSlz_7va1s4c3qEGgJmfEvmCUaNsxj-68kvJOqNOIrU-ulM/s1600/heinlein.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsE3El0gCXEyAOtVQeZokb8xj7F1tUFMkBTT0kUCXmg4oBGuE9c_xj59diqI8kXNcdH280Lze6UwGcEHO1CUeYG7XElXIPCbSlz_7va1s4c3qEGgJmfEvmCUaNsxj-68kvJOqNOIrU-ulM/s200/heinlein.jpg" width="125" /></a>My friend chose<a href="http://www.heinleinsociety.org/rah/index.htm"> Robert Heinlein's</a> 1966 novel <a href="http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Moon_Is_A_Harsh_Mistress.html?id=Cs-MPwAACAAJ">The Moon is a Harsh Mistress</a>. And I did it. While I can tear through several books of pop tart sci-fi in a day if left to my own devices, this book took me two weeks to complete. It's a hard book. The people of the lunar colony Heinlein writes about have their own Loony language, who use it in unique ways, kind of like how the characters in<a href="http://www.amazon.com/A-Clockwork-Orange-Anthony-Burgess/dp/0393312836"> A Clockwork Orange</a> did. This, plus the super-detailed and slow-moving plot meant that my brain had to engage with this sci-fi in a whole new way.<br />
<br />
But you know what? Like brussels sprouts, it was good for me. The slow pace allowed me the time to digest the complications in plot and character, and to think about the core tenets of sci-fi. By the time I finished the book, I had a new found appreciation for the grandfathers of the genre. They are the ones who created the tropes and set the parameters and showed writers that we could demand more from their works, and readers that we could demand more from the work of others.<br />
<br />
Having read Heinlein, I feel that I have a better understanding of how the genre has developed throughout history, and I think this will make me a better sci-fi writer. Just like how modern philosophers have to start off with <a href="http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/allegory.html">The Allegory of the Cave</a>, so do modern sci-fi writers have to pay their dues and understand how it began in order to take it into new and uncharted territory. Avery Oslohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14507517705621361426noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8834909738864389010.post-88282206858469556272012-06-12T22:50:00.003+02:002012-09-27T19:48:59.714+02:00The Balkans: the Original Ground Zero<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XhurfoYA9P8/T9erHUWuMqI/AAAAAAAAADc/t6KRphBXnXw/s1600/Drina2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XhurfoYA9P8/T9erHUWuMqI/AAAAAAAAADc/t6KRphBXnXw/s400/Drina2.jpg" width="257" /></a></div>
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<br />
In the aftermath of 9/11, sales of the Koran in the United States <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/2001-10-18-koran.htm">increased dramatically</a>. While perhaps signifying a positive and peaceful attempt at understanding, it's a laborious path if not a misguided one. Absent the history, absent the political and cultural context, reading rote excerpts of the Koran likely won't likely tell you too much about Muslims in Indonesia, Albania, and North America anymore than reading Leviticus chapter 20 will deliver the Christian world's homogenous views on homosexuality.<br />
<br />
A better approach would be to study part of the world where the two religions lived side-by-side - or at least on top of one another: the Balkans. The <i>Bridge on the Drina</i>, by Ivo Andric takes geo-politics down to the Google street view- to the <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g294449-d671227/Bosnia-And-Herzegovina:Bridge.Of.Visegrad.On.The.Drina.River.html">Mehmed Pasa Sokolovic Bridge</a> over the Drina river - to effectively document the history and emotion of <span style="background-color: white;">400 years of</span><span style="background-color: white;"> religious coexistence and conflict.</span><br />
<br />
Andric takes us through a deceptively leisurely journey through the centuries, from the bridges construction in the 1500s to the onset of the Great War. The deception is that every vignette, every detail is not casual or leisurely, but absolutely deliberate in that it conveys the history, political context, and cultural context that all those new Koran reader sought - along with humanity and emotion and a story.<br />
<br />
Andric paints a seemingly incongruous picture of Turkish rule, magnanimity punctuated by absolute brutality viz. the seemingly rote description of the sentence of impalement carried out on the bridge. Despite the despotism and some last-minute Oriental cruelty (nailing someone to the bridge by their ear) as the Austro-Hungarian army approaches, the end of Turkish rule is depicted almost ruefully by the narrator:<br />
<br />
"About midday, [the Austrians] fired a few shells from the shelter of a little wood at the deserted caravanserai. They damaged the already ruined <i>han</i> and destroyed those exceptionally fine window grilles, each cut from a single piece of soft stone."<br />
<br />
Perhaps change is rued simply because the Balkans are a part of the world where conflict appears to be the only measure of progress, where religion is just another manner of tribal affiliation.<br />
<br />
Boiling down so much complexity into the happenings on this bridge, Andric captures a fundamental moment of transition from Eastern to Western rule, including a meeting between the town 'notables' (representatives of the Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities as well as an academic) and the Austro-Hungarian army colonel (derogatorily referred to as "Schwabes," which is amusing if you speak German). An excerpt from the proceeding chapter as the mechanisms of the new empire are slowly put in place:<br />
<br />
"What most astonished the people of the town and filled them with wonder and distrust was not so much their numbers as their immense and incomprehensible plans, their untiring industry and the perseverance with which they proceeded to the realisation of those plans. The newcomers were never at peace; and they allowed no one else to live in peace. It seemed that they were resolved with their impalpable yet ever more noticeable web of laws, regulations and orders to embrace all forms of life, men, beasts and things, and to change and alter everything, both the outward appearance of the town and the customs and habits of men from the cradle to the grave..."<br />
<br />
As the Turks (and the Serbs) still living in town attempt to unsuccessfully withdraw themselves from the encroaching bureaucracy that mercilessly governs the length and width of market stalls, what they hunt, and which trees they chop down, the bright shining lines still between East and West, between the rule of tradition and the rule of law, between passion and calculation, and between mysticism and corporate efficiency - is illuminated.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8834909738864389010.post-84241183153512258432012-05-23T22:36:00.000+02:002012-05-23T22:36:00.477+02:00The Bible and Literature - Writing Prompts<div class="content_full">
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<img alt="" height="460" src="http://mysteriousuniverse.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/elijah-elisha-ap1.jpg" width="468" /><br />
<br />
I regularly wonder about the possibilities for integrating <a href="http://www.ericasp.com/blog.php/2011/02/23/the-bible-and-literature">the Bible and Literature</a>. Specifically, I've often thought that there are a number of Biblical elements <em>just waiting</em> to be used as literary allusions (though, of course it's possible that they already <em>have </em>been
used as such, and I just haven't been exposed to them yet). In my mind,
some of the Bible's relatively obscure phrases or figures are so
poignant and powerful that a modern-day adaptation is just begging to be
written!<br />
<br />
Just for the fun of it, I thought I would share some of the words and
images which I consider to offer excellent potential for powerful
story-telling. If any of you students of Literature would want to take
any of these "writing prompts" and run with them, I welcome you to do
so (even though I realzie that I run the risk of losing out on my own
Pulitzer or Nobel prize, by giving away these gems). And if any of you
students of the Bible have items to add to my little list, I would love
to hear them. Here are some of the ones that stand out to me:<br />
<br />
<div style="padding-left: 30px;">
<strong>"My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!"</strong> </div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="padding-left: 30px;">
This is a quote from the prophet Elisha, as cited in the story of
Elisha's mentor Elijah being carried up to heaven in a firestorm (see <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%202:1-18&version=NIV">2 Kings chapter 2</a>).
To me, this line has a sort of inherrent power to it, much along the
line of "Absalom! Absalom!" which William Faulkner used so effectively
-- but, like "Absalom! Absalom!," the line also has a great story behind
it, which makes the words themselves that much stronger. In the case of
Elisah's quote, there are strong themes of perseverance, coming-of-age,
grief, and fulfillment that can be drawn from the story around this
quote. Seriously: a Nobel Prize for Literature just waiting to be won...</div>
<div style="padding-left: 30px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="padding-left: 30px;">
<strong>Mephibosheth</strong>.</div>
<div style="padding-left: 30px;">
<br /></div>
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Mephibosheth is a minor figure from the story of King David -- but aside
from just having a cool and quirky name, he also represents a beautiful
story of love, loyalty, and forgiveness. You can read more of
Mephibosheth's story in the <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Samuel%204:4,%209:1-13&version=NIV">4th and 9th chapters of 2 Samuel</a>
-- though you'd also have to look into the stories of David and
Jonathan, to get the full effect -- but basically, the idea is that
Mephibosheth comes from the line of Saul who is supposedly in stark
opposition to the line of David, Saul's royal successor. But instead of
having the last, crippled remnant of Saul's line killed, David gives him
a place of honor at the royal table out of loyalty to Mephibosheth's
father, Jonathan. I think any story about love, loyalty, and forgiveness
would be greatly enhanced by including a character named and/or modeled
after Mephibosheth...</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="padding-left: 30px;">
<strong>"This man declared to Ithiel, to Ithiel and to Ucal."</strong> </div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="padding-left: 30px;">
This is a reference to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs%2030:1&version=NIV1984">Proverbs 30:1</a>,
and I think it's cool because it's basically just a "coded" reference
to exhaustion. From what I understand, this quote is a direct
translation of the Hebrew in the original Masoretic text -- but if a
slightly different word division of the Hebrew is used, the same text
can be translated "I am weary, O God; I am weary, O God, and faint."
Maybe it's just me (because this is a pretty obscure reference), but I
think this phrase -- and/or the names Ithiel, Ucal, and Agur (the one
who is doing the declaring in this quote) -- would be great allusions in
any work about exhaustion, weariness, and hopelessness...</div>
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<br /></div>
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<strong>"Skin for skin!"</strong> </div>
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<br /></div>
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This is a quote from the mouth of Satan himself, as cited in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job%202&version=NIV">the second chapter of Job</a>.
Believe it or not, there are not actually that many direct quotes from
Satan in the Bible -- but this is one of them, and I think it's an
interesting take on the classic, "eye for an eye, and tooth for a tooth"
dictum. The context of this passage shows that it's about causing
someone physical harm for the sake of testing him. On a broader literary
level, I believe this phrase could be used as an allusion in any
situation involving temptation, testing, or suffering...</div>
<br />
Does anyone else know of any other Biblical phrases or figures that
are just waiting to be developed into a Biblical allusion? This, of
course, is not the primary purpose behind our reading of the Bible --
just to gather up clever quotes and allusions -- but it is a cool
peripheral benefit. Also, if anyone ends up using any of these "writing
prompts" (or finds them somewhere else within the greater body of
Literature), please let me know!<br />
</div>
</div>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16050672335070483150noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8834909738864389010.post-4440265462204021962012-05-16T23:44:00.002+02:002013-08-30T13:33:28.254+02:00When East met West: Ronin and the emergence of the comic-as-literature<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vvPiLKssSlk/T7Qevpr8aPI/AAAAAAAAACs/JIpWYxkK96I/s1600/Ronin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="356" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vvPiLKssSlk/T7Qevpr8aPI/AAAAAAAAACs/JIpWYxkK96I/s400/Ronin.jpg" width="400" /></a> </span><br />
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If you’re a reader of Neal Stephenson or William Gibson or any of their disciples, you're undoubtedly accustomed to their fusing of Eastern history, philosophy, and martial arts with Western characters in Western settings. If you got in early enough, you were even able to look down your nose at Keanu Reeves’ virtual ninjitsu in <i>The Matrix</i> because you’d already been reading about it, like, a decade ago. But before Keanu, before <a href="http://blogging.la/2006/08/10/greatest-fictional-angelenos-6-hiro-protagonist/">Hiro Protagonist</a>, before the heady days of the “street samurai,” East rarely ever met and West in science fiction. This changed in 1983 around the time Frank Miller’s <i>Ronin</i> was published.<br />
<br />
1983 was an exciting time to be a young nerd. I was still high as a kite from the conclusion of the Star Wars trilogy, and in the absence of jedi knights, New York movie theaters were chock full of <a href="http://youtu.be/6PQ6335puOc">barbarians</a> and <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8qw8t_enter-the-ninja-1981-movie-trailer_shortfilms">ninjas</a>. I’d graduated from Basic Dungeons & Dragons to Advanced D&D, from the “Choose Your Own Adventure” series and Tin Tin books to Edgar Rice Burroughs (Tarzan and John Carter series), Harry Harrison (the <a href="http://www.stainlesssteelrat.net/">Stainless Steel Rat</a> series), and Piers Anthony (anything <a href="http://www.brainfrizz.com/xanth.html">Xanth</a>), and although still into comic books, I’d deserted costumed super-heroes, looking for something deeper, darker, and more vital.<br />
<br />
I didn’t know it, but I wasn’t the only reader bored by the duopoly of DC Comics (publisher of all Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern titles) and Marvel (Spider Man, Fantastic Four, Hulk). <a href="http://bigother.com/2010/01/23/reading-frank-millers-batman-the-dark-knight-returns-part-1/">Frank Miller summed it up best</a><br />
<blockquote>
“…comics have reached the point where there are so many damn superheroes and so damn much superpower flying around that there’s no room left for anything human, and the only way to make the genre seem interesting is to wildly escalate the powers, the numbers, the quantity of planets that can be demolished per panel.”</blockquote>
Writers recognized that something was missing, and like Mao’s hundred flowers, the comic book shops in 1983 quickly blossomed with new writer/artist-owned titles and characters. These stories featured - among other things - <a href="http://www.elfquest.com/comic_viewer.php?fd=/gallery/OnlineComics/OQ/OQ16/_Original%20ElfQuest%20-%2016_page=1#_1">elves</a>, <a href="http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/1272510.html">sea</a>- and<a href="http://comicbookcatacombs.blogspot.com/2009/07/1980s-flashback-starslayer.html">space-farers</a>, <a href="http://www.comicvine.com/vanguard-illustrated-/37-24240/">post-apocalyptic encyclopedia salesmen</a>, and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B000NDZ25W/ref=dp_image_text_z_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books">Robert Crumb-inspired weirdness</a>.<br />
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It was in these conditions that the seeds were planted for comic books to develop into literature. My eyes were opened and I was enthralled. Three things struck me:<br />
<ol class="ol1">
<li class="li4">The absence of capes and tights (and when they did appear, the “heroes” were usually <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nexuscomic.jpg">homicidal</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Badger_issue_25.jpg">mentally ill</a>).</li>
<li class="li4">This was adult stuff, and I don't mean nudity and violence (though there was plenty of that).</li>
<li class="li4">Unburdened by years of convention, formula, and character continuity, these were fresh, original, complex characters.</li>
</ol>
Most seeds took a long time to germinate. Not far from my family’s apartment, Art Spiegelman was still busy serializing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maus"><i>Maus</i></a> - a decade away from the Pulitzer it would eventually earn. Across the Atlantic, Alan Moore was serializing <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_for_Vendetta">V for Vendetta</a>; </i>the <a href="http://hoodedutilitarian.com/2011/08/4-watchmen-alan-moore-dave-gibbons/"><i>Watchmen</i></a> (listed in Time magazine’s “All-TIME 100 Greatest Novels") was still four years off. So while these best known examples of comics-as-literature still incubated, it was DC comics (in response to the upstart competition) publication of <i>Ronin</i> issue #1 that can rightly claim the comic-as-literature "firstie." They are also to blame for pushing me into full-on Nerd-dom - ensuring I would never kiss a girl until I was 16 (okay 17).<br />
<br />
So what was it about <i>Ronin</i> that pushed me into teenage celibacy? Initially, I wasn’t floored; the artwork struck me as clumpy and uneven, but the prologue featured samurais versus ninjas, so I pressed on. Then the demon Agat murdered Lord Ozaki for stealing the blood sword, forcing Ozaki’s student - the Ronin - to flee across feudal Japan with the sword in hand. When the story flung me forward 400 years to a post-apocalyptic New York, I was hooked. My hometown was a nightmare, where Virgo, a sentient, self-propagating computer appeared to be the city’s only hope. Miller effectively creates two worlds, and then crashes them violently together when Agat pursues Ronin across time and space, hunting for the blood sword.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dsTRAq-PEVA/T7QbKq4chcI/AAAAAAAAAB8/s3iJHRzsfnE/s1600/Agat.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="307" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dsTRAq-PEVA/T7QbKq4chcI/AAAAAAAAAB8/s3iJHRzsfnE/s400/Agat.jpeg" width="400" /></a><br />
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So we’ve got samurais, ninjas, demons, sentient super computers, the high-tech weapons of the Aquarius Corporation (who think they own Virgo), all in an <i>Escape from New York</i> setting. And he’s only getting started. New York is revealed to both reader and Ronin as he hunts Agat and is hunted by Virgo. As entertaining as this was on its own, Miller didn’t let it stay a violent but typical “fish out of water” story. There is something ominous about Virgo's matronly omniscience, like a biotech <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOr-Fk1B2Yo">Nurse Ratched</a>. And what exactly is her interest in the Ronin and Agat?<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vTOe_k8h01g/T7QbkSHUXRI/AAAAAAAAACE/y0PSL5JB2JA/s1600/Casey.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vTOe_k8h01g/T7QbkSHUXRI/AAAAAAAAACE/y0PSL5JB2JA/s200/Casey.png" width="191" /></a><br />
<br />
To find these answers, Miller gives us the Aquarius Complex’s Head of Security, Casey McKenna. Casey is a she, and she is bi-racial. I don’t know why that’s important, except I’d rarely (if ever) encountered either before. Casey is strong, capable, kick-ass, and determined to apprehend the Ronin.<br />
<br />
As the story evolves seamlessly from one thread to the next, the cast of characters evolves with it. Ronin can bring all kinds of whup-ass, but he’s also sensitive, just, traditional, and even romantic. Casey McKenna is tough as nails, but is burdened managing complicated relationships with her wimpy (at the outset) husband, her staff, and the Ronin. Miller doesn’t even allow his supporting cast (Casey’s husband, the Aquarius CEO, Ronin’s hippie side kick) to stay static. In short, it was <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_fiction">literary</a></i>. The only cipher in all this is Agat himself, and the reasons for this are the greatest trick of all that Miller plays on his reader.<br />
<br />
Are the story elements of <i>Ronin</i> original? Well, no. The cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers in Ronin <i>are</i> the "mashed potato people" (using the parlance from the novelized version) from <i>Escape from New York</i>. Apart from this, there are elements and tropes lifted from a number of films (the art has a cinematic quality to it) and books (including <a href="http://zolderwriters.blogspot.com/2012/05/bible-and-literature.html">the Bible</a>) that are immediately recognizable. These same influences also touched William Gibson's work, and that of dozens of other writers. <br />
<br />
Because of this, it’s not fair or accurate to say Frank Miller’s <i>Ronin</i> was the nexus of Western and Eastern thought in science fiction on top of its comics-as-literature firstie, but it is among the remains among the best. It functions as a lens through which we can view a time and a place where so many great ideas came together so effectively, creating a little bit of literary and pop cultural history in the process. Q.E.D.:<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m6XzTEZShHQ/T7QcULVdfrI/AAAAAAAAACc/PL4G2De8rDU/s1600/ronin2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m6XzTEZShHQ/T7QcULVdfrI/AAAAAAAAACc/PL4G2De8rDU/s320/ronin2.jpeg" width="206" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-koFN1R4LY7o/T7TnvkX5AGI/AAAAAAAAAC4/4RyIh0AO3N0/s1600/tmnt1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-koFN1R4LY7o/T7TnvkX5AGI/AAAAAAAAAC4/4RyIh0AO3N0/s320/tmnt1.jpg" width="216" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m6XzTEZShHQ/T7QcULVdfrI/AAAAAAAAACc/PL4G2De8rDU/s1600/ronin2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"> </a> </div>
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<br />
Above are the covers of <i>Ronin</i> issue #1 and <i>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles</i>#1, published two years later. The Turtles were originally a send-up/encomium for <i>Ronin</i> and Miller's work on Daredevil and Wolverine. The rest is merchandising history. <i>Ronin</i> also set the stage for Miller's re-imagination of Batman in <i>The Dark Knight Returns</i>, which has been cribbed heavily for the Christian Bale Batman movies. This bridge between East and West traveled two ways, too; pick up any <a href="http://www.mangareader.net/1047-39598-17/battle-angel-alita-last-order/chapter-33.html">Battle Angel: Alita</a> manga to read about another sensitive, yet highly dangerous, cybernetic fish out of water, and you'll easily spot imagery from <i>Ronin</i> (not to mention a dozen other Western books and movies).<br />
<br />
So read it and judge for yourself if this is really the first comic-as-literature. At the very least, when the movie gets made (all indications are it eventually <a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/ronin-moves-forward,15059/">will</a>), you’ll be able to look down your nose at it, because you’d already read it, like, a decade ago.<br />
<br />
- ChrisAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8834909738864389010.post-54623310111799024802012-05-10T18:14:00.001+02:002012-05-10T23:05:31.056+02:00Gone, But Not Forgotten: Vintage Books For Hipsters And The Rest Of Us<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/08/Nashville_skyline_2009.jpg/800px-Nashville_skyline_2009.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="125" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/08/Nashville_skyline_2009.jpg/800px-Nashville_skyline_2009.jpg" title="Nashville Skyline" width="200" /></a>I'm the member of the <a href="http://zolderwriters.blogspot.com/" style="color: blue;">Zolder Writers</a> who moved from the Netherlands to Nashville. I left behind my fabulous critique group (along with wheels of cheese larger than my head and beautiful coffee shops where everyone can be a stoner with style) for the<a href="http://www.blueshoenashville.com/Streetviews/downtownnashville.html"> <span style="color: blue;">land of rhinestone cowboys</span></a> and <a href="http://www.keshasparty.com/us/home" style="color: blue;">Ke$ha</a>. A fair trade, but I still long for the old country... and for, in fact, anything old. <br />
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While<span style="color: blue;"> </span><a href="http://averyoslo.wordpress.com/writing/" style="color: blue;">I write all forms of fantasy</a> (magical realism, interplanetary, fairy tale, you name it, I've written it), my first love is history. History shows us where we as a collective species have been, and lets me judge better where we're going. But I'm not talking about historical fiction, which is fun but pain in the you-know-where to write (take it from me - I have a two-part historical fiction novel moldering on my hard drive), but the fiction of history. <br />
<br />
Let me confess-- I'm the 20-something girl with huge-framed glasses and a quirky haircut who liked vintage books before they were cool. Well okay, that's a lie. They aren't cool. I don't think they ever will be cool - that's why you <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a7/Frankenstein%27s_monster_%28Boris_Karloff%29.jpg/477px-Frankenstein%27s_monster_%28Boris_Karloff%29.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a7/Frankenstein%27s_monster_%28Boris_Karloff%29.jpg/477px-Frankenstein%27s_monster_%28Boris_Karloff%29.jpg" width="158" /></a>can buy 20 of them for a dollar at most used book stores, yard sales, and on<span style="color: blue;"> </span><a href="http://www.ebay.com/" style="color: blue;">Ebay</a><span style="color: blue;">.</span> Which "them" am I talking about? The genre I would have never learned about in school: the vintage Gothic novel, which is really three genres in one, as each of these is a mystery/suspense with elements of old-school horror, and contains the obligatory romance. I don't mean books like <i>Wuthering Heights</i> (though I have no doubt it is the book that has inspired this genre) or <i>Frankenstein</i> (though that book is awesome. If you haven't read it, it's nothing like it is<span style="color: blue;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Scoobydoo-Frankenstein-Monster-James-Gelsey/dp/0439188768" style="color: blue;">portrayed/parodied in Scooby Doo</a>, it's a very complex and creepy book that questions the core of humanity. Get in there!). I mean the yellow-paged soft cover cheap pseudo-mysteries my grannies might have read. <br />
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You can immediately identify these books by the bad artwork on the cover. There is always a beautiful <a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRJwcEBFqPBWT187-GeaAhZYlHrJf4UIBp4jR7xZs8D80XEe84icA" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRJwcEBFqPBWT187-GeaAhZYlHrJf4UIBp4jR7xZs8D80XEe84icA" width="114" /></a>young woman in a position of peril, and often a sinister brooding mostly dark-haired Heathcliff-type man somewhere on the cover. Whatever is happening on the cover usually happens under the moon, or in a dark creepy house at nighttime, or in some deserted and precarious countryside. The edges of each page are usually painted, sometimes red, green, or even gold. On occasion <i>Reader's Digest </i>has condensed several of these novels into one thick hardback treasure trove. If you find anything written by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/25092.Victoria_Holt" style="color: blue;">Victoria Holt</a> (the undisputed Queen of this genre), or<span style="color: blue;"> </span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/174958.Dorothy_Eden" style="color: blue;">Dorothy Eden</a> (my personal favorite), or <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2566.Madeleine_Brent" style="color: blue;">Madeleine Brent</a> (also very dramatic, though she was actually the cover for a man named Peter O'Donnell), snap it up without thinking. Seriously. Go to your library's book swap shelf and find them. Go to the used bookstore's 99cent/pence shelf and snatch them. If you read one, you'll want to read all of them. <br />
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These books were big sellers in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, though publishers continued to churn these out well into the 80s. They were written by women who grew up in the oppressive postwar 1940s and 50s, and then tried to reconcile the way they were raised with the wave of upcoming feminism in the 1960s. Their books are a fascinating insight into the mind of women struggling to find their place, and how to relate with men in light of how their own past meshes with women's lib.<br />
<br />
Many of these vintage Gothic books are also historical novels, meaning that they were written about an earlier era than the publication date. Reading them now, 40-70 years later, is like reading double the history. There's nothing like seeing how a woman from the 60s with her mores envisioned gender relations in the past. In the case of men like Peter O'Donnell writing under a female pseudonym it becomes even more interesting - how would a man writing as a woman of the 50s and 60s perceive of gender in the past? <br />
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Beyond gender the themes of colonialism and empire are also strong. Many of these books, like <i>Moonraker's Bride</i>, by Madeline Brent (Peter O'Donnell) deal with Britain's colonial heritage and how it <a href="http://novelreaction.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/moonraker-203x300.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://novelreaction.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/moonraker-203x300.jpg" width="135" /></a>influences gender. In this gripping tale, English narrator Lucy Waring grows up in a Chinese Orphanage on the eve of the Boxer Rebellion. At age 17 she is sent to England for safety, and is plunged into the familiar vintage Gothic romance/mystery setting of a creepy mansion filled with double-crossing distant relations with a sordid past and surprising ties to the events unfolding abroad, fighting over an uncertain fortune. While the young narrator must sort through all the lies to find the truth, she must figure out which of her relatives are the double crossers, and choose between potential suitors. But can she listen to her heart when one of these said suitors wants to plunge a dagger into it? Maybe the people she knew in the Chinese orphanage hold the key to the answers she seeks. (Not Maybe, definitely. They definitely hold the key to the answers - that's how these novels work.)<br />
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These books are like serious crack to my soul. I love them more than <a href="http://www.yelp.com/topic/san-francisco-hipsters-and-pbr-what-the-f-ck" style="color: blue;">hipsters love PBR</a>. Most of them stick closely to the formula, and even those written in the author's present-day time period often involve a foreign theme. What's most important, is that the narrator be plunged into an entirely new situation - new country, new relatives, and a new creepy formerly-bustling manor now desolate and in a state of decay and disrepair. And the details! The details are what make it. For example, in <i>Moonraker's Bride</i>, the mansion is named "Moonrakers" because it was once inhabited by some batshit-crazy relatives who would see the reflection of the full moon in the inky waters of the lake on the estate and one of them drowned using a rake trying to capture it. And this becomes the heritage of the people with whom our Lucy Waring deals. Every single person in that book spoons liberal portions of the insanity- flavored porridge for breakfast, and it's undeniably engrossing.<br />
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Most Gothic romance/mystery/suspense/horror stories written in the mid to late 20th century also feature an <a href="https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSkfsgicTu4T7pSPgAQkL2MByLoJcTReLsLt1ekmr_dKo5MTplj" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSkfsgicTu4T7pSPgAQkL2MByLoJcTReLsLt1ekmr_dKo5MTplj" width="120" /></a>implied supernatural element. Sometimes it is a ghost which throws visions (sometimes helpful, other times deceptive) into the mix. Sometimes this supernatural manifests itself in the form of a crying baby, or loud footsteps in a fog-shrouded ruin at the edge of the moor. At other times, the supernatural element belongs to the colonized culture of which the heroin is entwined and tries to help her, only she is unable to understand the cultural significance of what this Othered ghost is trying to tell her. Another popular form of the supernatural is when it masquerades in the form of a rogue demonic adventurer, sexy dangerous pirate, or, as in the case of Barbara Michaels' <i>Wings of the Falcon</i>, a Zorro-like masked Italian revolutionary (called "The Falcon," of course) with a reputation for supernatural abilities. <br />
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And all of these clichés wrapped into one book are incredibly satisfying because the books are so cut and dried. The main character gets terrified, finds her courage, and figures it all out in time to have a satisfying relationship with a broody dark man (bonus points if this man is a sexy sailor like Captain Rex <a href="https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSMOY5VNQbuDxFUFZFOII1vIiRe9sFq_N01bziRjAjoDHaEWCT88A" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSMOY5VNQbuDxFUFZFOII1vIiRe9sFq_N01bziRjAjoDHaEWCT88A" width="119" /></a>Crediton of Victoria Holt's <i>The Secret Woman</i>, because... yeah). The evil man who deceptively gained our protagonist's affections in order to find out what she really knows, or worked to scam the inheritance of which she was unaware, or tried to gaslight our protagonist for personal gain, gets the most poetically just death possible without tingeing the protagonist with guilt. (And I mean the most - we have villains being weighed down and drowning due to the weight of the inheritance they tried to steal from the protagonist, we see baddies being catapulted over the edge of cliffs onto the insanely sharp rocks below during a scuffle with our heroine, and there's plenty of accidental drinking of the poisoned cup meant for our protagonist). The hysteric best friend/caretaker/creepy old lady in the tower turns out to be either a distant relative to the main character who was faking it and gets to live out her life with her in the big castle, or turns out to have been plotting against the protagonist all along and gets some gristly and well-earned comeuppance. Everything else gets explained away neatly, and by the end you feel that either the supernatural element has come to accept the protagonist as the new rightful ruler of the land, or goes back to whichever hell spawned it with the souls of the evil characters in tow. <br />
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This sort of neatly-wrapped ending is totally taboo in today's novels. Nothing is allowed to be neat. <a href="http://mardimcc.wordpress.com/2012/04/15/on-writing-happy-endings/" style="color: blue;">We aren't allowed proper happy endings anymore</a>. All endings now have to be unsatisfactory or tinged with bittersweet. No antagonists are allowed to be unremorsefully evil - <a href="http://katecoursey.blogspot.com/2011/12/writing-complex-antagonists.html" style="color: blue;">they always have to be complex</a><span style="color: blue;">.</span> We always get to see what made them evil, and we sympathise because we know we ourselves might have been made evil under those circumstances. <span style="color: blue;"> </span><a href="http://mythicscribes.com/character-development/5-characteristics-epic-villain/" style="color: blue;">A compelling villain </a>is one whose good motives led them down dark paths, and who therefore still have the potential to be redeemed right up to the very end of the book. In the vintage Gothic novels, however, evil is purely selfish evil, only masquerading as good. And evil gets what it deserves. It's simplistic and wholly satisfying on a whole other level. I could never write something like this, but don't judge me for devouring it until you've tried a few yourself.Avery Oslohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14507517705621361426noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8834909738864389010.post-29579501284164495262012-05-09T14:34:00.000+02:002012-05-09T14:34:00.222+02:00The Bible and Literature<div class="content_full">
<div class="bText">
My "day job" is church leadership. I'm the pastor of a church called <a href="http://www.amsterdam50.nl/">Amsterdam50</a>. As such, I thoroughly enjoyed T. David Gordon's <em>Why Johnny Can't Preach</em>.
It was recommended highly by a good friend, and indeed it's a
fascinating book about communications and ministry. One of its most
significant points is that most ministers today preach ineffectively
because they are poor students of written communication: literature and
textual criticism in particular. In effect, Gordon argues that one's
study of the Bible is considerably enhanced by one's experience with
studying the sonnets of Shakespeare or other great works of literature,
which must be digested slowly and deliberately (as opposed to the more
immediate and more practical forms of electronic communication that are
more widely used today). I don't know if I agree with everything that
Gordon has to say, but it is certainly some noteworthy food for thought:
namely, that a thorough understanding and appreciation of great
Literature enhances our study of the Bible.<br />
<br />
I happen to agree with this particular assertion, but it also
intrigues me because I've recently been considering the fact that to be
an effective student (or a producer/writer) of Literature, a significant
level of appreciation for the Bible is essential. In short:
appreciation of the Bible and appreciation of great Literature go hand
in hand.<br />
<br />
I remember sitting in a 300-level English literature course at
Bowling Green State University, examining at a cross-section of
early-American literature in which repeated references were made to some
place called <strong>"Pisgah."</strong> Despite the professor's leading
questions -- indicating that these "Pisgah" references were an
important key to understanding the overall message of the narrative
passages -- the lecture hall sat in silent confusion as to the
significance of what that word meant. Eventually, the professor revealed
that "Pisgah" was a Biblical allusion, referring to Moses viewing of
the Promised Land that he would never be privileged to enter, described
in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%203:21-29&version=NIV">Deuteronomy 3:21-29</a>.
And indeed, when I went back to my dorm room and read the Biblical
account for myself later, the early-American literature made so much
more sense and carried a significantly greater emotional weight.<br />
<br />
Ever since that discovery, I've been captivated by the literary power of Biblical allusion.<br />
<br />
<b>The Literary Power of Biblical Allusion</b><br />
<br />
Some Biblical allusions have been so widely used that they now border on being clichéed: phrases such as <strong>"milk and honey"</strong> (referring to an idealistic description of the Israelites' Promised Land, as described in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%203:7-8&version=NIV">Exodus 3:7-8</a> and numerous other sections of the Old Testament of the Bible) or <strong>"loaves and fishes"</strong>
(referring to the miracle in which Jesus' provided food for 5000 people
from just five loaves of bread and two fishes, recorded in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%206:30-44&version=NIV">Mark 6:30-44</a>).
It's astonishing, really, to realize how many of our casual
turns-of-language find their roots in the Bible. Still other examples of
these common Biblical allusions include <strong>"an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,"</strong> or <strong>"turn the other cheek,"</strong> or <strong>"the extra mile"</strong> (all three of which can be found in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205:38-42&version=NIV">Matthew 5:38-42</a>).
These types of phrases are peppered throughout the English language
(and, I would wager, also throughout other languages of the Western
Hemisphere). However, the power of Biblical allusion runs much deeper
than these standard references.<br />
<br />
Consider, for example, two of the greatest American novelists of all
time, who clearly understood the power of Biblical allusion: John
Steinbeck and William Faulkner. John Steinbeck's <strong><em>East of Eden</em></strong>
-- which the author considered to be his greatest work -- drew heavily
upon the stories of deception, disobedience, hatred, and murder found in
the Biblial accounts of Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel, as found in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%201-4&version=NIV">Genesis 1-4</a>. Likewise, William Faulkner's <strong><em>Absalom, Absalom!</em></strong>
-- often cited as the greatest novel ever written about the American
South -- drew its title and its inspiration from the story of King David
and his rebellious son Absalom, as found in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Samuel%2015-18&version=NIV">2 Samuel 15-18</a>.
Both of these works of literature are rooted in the great (though
perhaps somewhat obscure) stories of the Bible, and they alone make a
strong case for the serious student of Literature to also become a
serious student of the Bible. But truthfully, Steinbeck and Faulkner are
just two small examples of countless other great writers who have drawn
heavily upon the narrative history of the Bible to provide their books
with multiple layers of meaning. William Shakespeare, Leo Tolstoy,
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkein, George Bernard
Shaw, Toni Morrison... the list goes on and on and on. Probably half of
the writers who have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature have
included significant elements of Biblical allusion in their most
significant and celebrated works!<br />
<br />
So indeed, I believe that appreciation of the Bible and appreciation of great Literature go hand in hand.<br />
<br />
What's odd, however, is that my natural impression -- from knowing
people who are serious students of the Bible and knowing people who are
serious students of Literature -- indicates these two realms of study
are often viewed as being mutually exclusive. As I've <a href="http://www.ericasp.com/blog.php/2011/01/25/stories-stories-everywhere">previously noted on my own website</a>,
most contemporary Christians tend to look down on fiction as being
frivilous, insubstantial, and a waste of time. But it's not just the
Christians who miss the boat on this one. Similarly, most contemporary
enthousiasts of Literature look down on the Bible as being dogmatic,
irrelevant, and boring. If you'll allow me to use yet another Biblical
allusion, it's as if the <strong>right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing</strong> (see <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%206:1-4&version=NIV">Matthew 6:1-4</a>).
So how can these two disciplines be brought into more meaningful
interaction?!? I wish I knew! I certainly feel challenged to step up
both my study of the Bible and my study of great works of Literature;
but until my Christian friends and literary friends take similar steps, I
fear that I will always be looking down at the world from the
vantagepoint of <strong>Pisgah</strong>...<br />
</div>
</div>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16050672335070483150noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8834909738864389010.post-1824872774734187332012-04-26T18:08:00.000+02:002012-04-26T18:08:02.759+02:00Making Ghelye Mahi in AmsterdamA bit off topic, but I still wanted to share my first article about cooking featuring an actual, if inexact recipe. I look forward to comments. <br />
<br />
The piece is up now at <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2012/04/cuisine-too-much-is-never-enough-making-ghelye-mahi.html#ixzz1tA6yDWC8">Tehran Bureau</a>. It's for one of my favorite dishes, Ghelye Mahi. Please go read it, and if you make the dish let me know how it turns out.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBPfkOvKkKnc0qoi1Lx9SCGQjSJFWLthzhSqUQ0eV7b-BvhYhimvUHTm1_oGqWX_PoQ5VeZVoLKTEUitOgEgixIE36t0_kCGj6J1lsMFxomsKE4JA5y6cXMvJMLaAu21HPknstODs6n2Ls/s1600/IMG_1391.dng" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="241" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBPfkOvKkKnc0qoi1Lx9SCGQjSJFWLthzhSqUQ0eV7b-BvhYhimvUHTm1_oGqWX_PoQ5VeZVoLKTEUitOgEgixIE36t0_kCGj6J1lsMFxomsKE4JA5y6cXMvJMLaAu21HPknstODs6n2Ls/s320/IMG_1391.dng" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<blockquote>Every time we had people over for dinner, my husband would say to me, "Tori, we didn't make enough food."<br />
"How can that be?" I'd ask. "There are leftovers." It wasn't until we moved to Iran in 2003 for a four-year stay that I understood what he meant. A chicken leg or two is not leftovers. It's ta'rof -- good manners. It's what the guests leave behind so you won't think you served them insufficiently. "Enough food" means that another party can be fed with what is left over at the end of the evening.<br />
<br />
The first time we were invited out in Iran, we were served omelets, fish, whole roasted chicken, yogurt and cucumbers, yogurt and spinach, tomato, cucumber, and onion salad, salad with iceberg lettuce and Thousand Island dressing, spring chicken kebabs, and chopped lamb kebabs. All of this was brought to the table just before midnight. Kamran whispered, "Do they think we're cows?"<br />
<br />
I tell you this so you won't balk at the amount of food my friend Zohreh Sanaseri (pictured) prepared for our dinner of ghelye (ghalieh) mahi -- a stew of fish, herbs, and tamarind paste. She invited three others to share the stew with us, but made enough for at least ten people.<br />
<br />
In four years of living in Iran, I never once encountered ghelye mahi. In fact, it wasn't until a night out at a Persian restaurant in Amsterdam that I ate it for the first time. The flavor was surprising: sharp, sour, sweet, and fishy all at once. It was made with many of the ingredients found in other stews I'd eaten in Iran, but tasted nothing like them. I searched for recipes and tried making it a few times before giving up. None was as good as my first time...<br />
<br />
And then I ate ghelye mahi at the home of my friend Zohreh, who hails from the city of Abadan in southwestern Iran. "It was the Paris of Iran," the eldest of her two daughters, who were born in the Netherlands, tells me. "Was," Zohreh emphasizes. "Before the war."<br />
<br />
It was the war with Iraq that drove Zohreh and her family out of Iran. She settled in the Netherlands with her husband when she was just 25. "I had never cooked before in my life," she says. "I learned everything here."<br />
<br />
"My father tells us she used to burn food all the time and that her cooking was awful," her daughter adds. This seems impossible now because Zohreh's "cooking hand" (dast pocht) is renowned among friends and family. Like many migrants, she learned cooking by calling her mother long-distance and working at her side during extended visits. "For me, ghelye mahi is the most important dish. This is our dish. It is the dish of Abadan and the one food that makes me feel connected to my family and my city."<br />
</blockquote><br />
<br />
Read more: <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2012/04/cuisine-too-much-is-never-enough-making-ghelye-mahi.html#ixzz1tA6yDWC8">http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2012/04/cuisine-too-much-is-never-enough-making-ghelye-mahi.html#ixzz1tA6yDWC8</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8834909738864389010.post-91002582976308026042012-04-25T14:27:00.000+02:002012-04-25T14:27:00.657+02:00A Return to Story-Telling<div class="content_full">
<div class="bText">
I've long been a lover of story-telling. I think I really got
into it when I was in the 7th grade -- about 13 years old -- in Mrs.
Ream's English class. Back then, it was stupid stories about action
heroes who battled and belittled a popular boy-band of the era (the New
Kids on the Block). But it was a start.<br />
<br />
In college, I majoried in Communications and minored in Creative
Writing. And even when I wasn't studying, I really enjoyed videography
as an avenue for story-telling (the <a href="http://www.ericasp.com/blog.php?s=roving+paramedics&submit=Search">Roving Paramedics</a> being the prime example of this phenomenon). Story-telling just seemed to be in my genetic make-up.<br />
<br />
But then I went into full-time Christian ministry.<br />
<br />
<b>A Wasted Education in Story-Telling?</b><br />
<br />
In the late 1990s, when this career transition happened for me, I
felt like all Christians (and especially Christian workers) were
categorically disinclined towards reading (or writing) fiction. It was
seen to be a waste of time. The books that most Christians seemed to
like reading were case studies in apologetics, like Lee Strobel's "Case
for Christ" or "Case for Faith"... Or they were books about
self-discovery, like Rick Warren's "Purpose-Driven Life" or John
Eldridge's "Wild at Heart." To a smaller degree, some Christians were
into sociological- or anthropological studies, like Leonard Sweet's
"Soul Tsunami" or Robert E. Webber's "Younger Evangelicals"... Or of
course, there were (and have always been) books about the best theories
for starting or growing churches (I could probably name off a couple <em>dozen </em>books
in this category). I read all these different kinds of books -- and I
genuinely benefitted from what they had to share -- but I always felt
kind of guilty because I didn't seem to naturally soak up that kind of
reading as much as my colleagues and contemporaries did. I read those
types of books as a type of "continuing education," but I enjoyed them
about as much as I enjoyed my academic textbooks from my university
years.<br />
<br />
If it was up to me, I much preferred the latest novel by Douglas
Coupland or a nice collection of short stories by various authors.
These felt more entertaining to me -- but also more inspiring, and I
might even say more instructive. But as someone working in full-time
Christian ministry, I always felt kind of sheepish about these
preferences. And over time, I even came to feel embarrassed that I had
"only" studied Communications and Creative Writing. Like these had
nothing to do with Christian ministry, and I could have just as easily
trained to become a zoo-keeper.<br />
<span> </span><br />
<br />
<b>Reclaiming the Power of Story</b><br />
<br />
For whatever reason, I've been noticing a cultural trend within
Christendom over the last couple of years: a sort of return to
story-telling. Actually, I think it's happening in the culture at
large, too. Have you noticed it? Have you picked up on any kind of a
return to story-telling?<br />
<br />
For whatever reason, a number of different external sources have
stimulated my awareness of this phenomenon. One of these was <a href="http://www.coupland.com/">Douglas Coupland</a>'s book: <a href="http://www.coupland.com/2009/03/30/book-generation-a-2/">Generation A</a>,
which "champions the act of reading and storytelling as one of the few
defenses we still have against the constant bombardment of the senses in
a digital world." I might add that the book does this in a really
interesting and provocative way. Around the same time that I was finishing with Coupland's novel, I read
something that <a href="http://cleverphrasehere.blogspot.com/">Amber van Schooneveld</a> posted <a href="http://cleverphrasehere.blogspot.com/2011/01/in-defense-of-story.html">about story-telling, literary critique, and "children's books."</a>
She makes a brilliant case for story-telling that jives very much with
what I've been noticing and what was brought up in Coupland's book. And
then, just an hour after reading the piece from Amber van Schooneveld, I
stumbled across a <a href="http://gerardkelly.tumblr.com/post/2915594568">beautiful description of the story-telling powers of the Bible</a>, written by <a href="http://gerardkelly.tumblr.com/">Gerard Kelly</a>. And through all of these stories about stories, my enthusiasm has continued to build and build.<br />
<br />
I still don't know exactly what to do with these observations or
these enthusiastic feelings. Of course, I can keep delighting in the
story of the Bible. I can use my church's pulpit as a forum for
biblical story-telling (while not neglecting other important parts of
preaching, of course). And I can keep tinkering around with my own
stories here on the internet (and hopefully soon in more
widely-published places).<br />
<br />
For now, though, more than anything I'm just thinking, wondering, and
feeling... almost like I'm back in Mrs. Ream's 7th grade English class.<br />
</div>
</div>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16050672335070483150noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8834909738864389010.post-71199253171781414622012-04-20T09:14:00.004+02:002012-04-20T09:22:22.206+02:00Did It Really?A journalist friend swore she couldn’t write fiction: she couldn’t write a story that wasn’t true. A novelist confessed he was a liar: he couldn’t write anything true.<br /><br />Most writing falls someplace in between. In the nebulous zone between actual events, people, locations, emotional experience--and imagination.<br /><br />I just finished reading “The Chimney Sweeper’s Boy” by Barbara Vine, which deals with the parallels between the life of a writer and his writing. In this novel, Gerald Candless, a bestselling author, dies unexpectedly. His publisher asks the daughter to write her father’s memoir. She makes an enthusiastic start, but soon discovers Gerald Candless doesn’t exist prior to the age of twenty-five when he changed both his name and identity. Through research and interviews the daughter finds out part of the truth. She discovers the facts but not the motives. The <em>why and the emotional anguish</em> can only be revealed in the novels he wrote.<br /><br />Upon reading a published novel written by a friend, I was surprised to find some of the things I had said to the author repeated verbatim in the dialogue. While the character who spoke them resembled me in some small ways, she was definitely not me as a whole. She was a creation sprung from the nebulous zone.<br /><br />We all draw on our own lives and those that touch ours when we create stories. Who in the critique group reading someone’s piece hasn’t wondered… Did that really happen? Is that him? His girl friend? Me?Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09228017571350970690noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8834909738864389010.post-18091187349164477032012-04-19T21:36:00.001+02:002012-04-19T21:36:23.550+02:00Pierre Menard Covers The Quixote as Nick Cave Gets it On with Leonard CohenWriters steal. We steal ideas, dreams, and thoughts. We record the misremembered and misheard and misunderstood. That’s how we cover. Yet, plagiarism is the greatest sin a writer can commit. It will damn you to whatever ring of hell is reserved for betrayers, traitors, and liars. Despicable.<br />
<br />
But isn’t there anything to learn from “covering” great writers? Can’t we be a bit like musicians every once in awhile and cover another’s work rather than steal it? I can’t write this without thinking of the Jorge Luis Borges piece: <br />
Pierre Menard Author of the Quixote. I’ll let an excerpt speak for itself:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> It is a revelation to compare Menard’s Don Quixote with Cervantes’. The latter, for example, wrote (part one, chapter nine):<br />
. . . truth, whose mother is history, rival of time, depository of deeds, witness of the past, exemplar and adviser to the present, and the future’s counselor. Written in the seventeenth century, written by the “lay genius” Cervantes, this enumeration is a mere rhetorical praise of history. Menard, on the other hand, writes:<br />
. . . truth, whose mother is history, rival of time, depository of deeds, witness of the past, exemplar and adviser to the present, and the future’s counselor.<br />
<br />
History, the mother of truth: the idea is astounding. Menard, a contemporary of William James, does not define history as an inquiry into reality but as its origin. Historical truth, for him, is not what has happened; it is what we judge to have happened. The final phrases—exemplar and adviser to the present, and the future’s counselor —are brazenly pragmatic. The contrast in style is also vivid. The archaic style of Menard—quite foreign, after all—suffers from a certain affectation. Not so that of his forerunner, who handles with ease the current Spanish of his time.</blockquote><br />
In the spirit of covers, I offer you this post, which is a cover of one I wrote for the <a href="http://mezrablog.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/monday-mixtape-12-breathing-new-meaning-into-old-songs/">Mezrab Blog</a> earlier in the week. It offers a number of covers by artists who have so re-imagined the originals that they are transformed and surprising. For starters, I offer you Hit ‘Em Up Style from the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKTXJUYiAT4">Carolina Chocolate Drops</a>. Their version of the song made popular by Blu Cantrell is picked clean, sharper than the original, and infused with righteous anger: <br />
<br />
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wKTXJUYiAT4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<br />
When <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW8rFho6In8">Leonard Cohen sings I’m Your Man</a>, I think, “Someone to cuddle up with and depend on when I need him… What could be nicer?” When Nick Cave sings it though -- well, that’s something else. It’s erotic and explicit, sweaty and visceral. It makes my heart palpitate and my mouth water. I love you, Leonard Cohen, but it’s Nick Cave I want.<br />
<br />
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/zSeh1fiH5JA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<br />
<br />
Like many people who were young in the 80s, I am a huge Clash fan. I saw them live in the Aragon ballroom in Chicago sometime or another before they stopped touring. There were no seats, and we danced with a kind of rage and energy that can only be experienced in a hall full of people keyed into the vibe, angry at the world, and filled with a drive to change reality. When I listen to them now, their songs sound surprisingly mild and melodic. They’re like lullabies. Nouvelle Vague has done some breathtaking covers of the Clash (<a href="http://livepage.apple.com/">Guns of Brixton</a> comes to mind ) and Lily Allen’s version of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weqeO50hOSY">Straight to Hell</a> deserves a good listen, but in the spirit of the times, I want to highlight Rachid Taha’s version of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ9r8LMU9bQ&ob=av2e">Rock the Casbah</a>. It just seems like great timing for a rebirth of this song, and Rachid Taha really brings it home.<br />
<br />
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7DbFYsi9iSg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<br />
My final recommendation for today is Ramblin’ Man from the Residents. It wasn’t until I listened to the Residents perform the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IqlI91Vj7Y">Hank Williams classic</a> that I understood just how dark the original really was. It can be found here: . Listen to both… isn’t it clear the ramblin man just killed some woman who may or may not have been his girlfriend and buried her in the woods? Tell me you don’t hear it too.<br />
<br />
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iEy_YE1zOag" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<br />
I leave all you readers with one final question: is it possible for writers to cover the works of other writers the way musicians do? I sure hope so.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8834909738864389010.post-72557611805775406362012-04-11T14:21:00.000+02:002012-04-11T14:21:00.244+02:00Guidelines for the Zolder Writing GroupFor the past few years, I've had the privilege of helping to facilitate a fabulous “fiction
critique group” with a literary organization here in Amsterdam called <a href="http://www.wordsinhere.com/">WordsInHere</a>. We've learned a lot from each other along the way, and we continue to
grow and develop both as persons and as writers. At one point in the early stages of our group's development, we had to deal with some ethical issues within the group
-- and as we worked through things, we realized that we didn't have
anything in the way of official guidelines to help us work through the
process. We even tried doing some research on-line, to see how other
similar writing groups might handle sticky situations like what we were
experiencing...<br />
<br />
In the end, though, we decided to write our own
guidelines. And since there seems to be such a relative paucity of
information on the internet about guidelines for a writing group, it seems like it might be useful to increase the "public knowledge" by posting what
we came up with, for whatever it's worth (special credit goes to Chris, by the way, for his work in putting our group conversations down
in written form, way back in the day). So anyway, here are the guidelines that we've
developed:<br />
<br />
<div align="center">
* * * * * </div>
<br />
<strong>The Zolder Writers Group - Who we are</strong><br /><br />We
are a group of serious writers - some of us published, some of us not
published yet. The Zolder Writers' Group provides us with:<br />
<ol>
<li>A valuable forum for literary critique,</li>
<li>Encouragement to reach new heights with our work, and</li>
<li>A real "writer's community".</li>
</ol>
The
Writer's Group serves many purposes, but the primary purpose is to be a
critique circle: reading each other's literary work as writers and
providing feedback about story, character and craft (as requested by the
submitting writer). We are of diverse backgrounds - both culturally and
literately - and receive inspiration for our work from outside the
group, but we can inspire and motivate each other by providing helpful
critique to our fellow writers.<br /><br /><strong>How we treat each other's work</strong><br /><br />The
primary requirement of a well-functioning writer's group is trust. In
order for writers to feel safe circulating their intellectual property
in the group, readers commit to returning all hard copies to the
submitter and deleting any soft copies following critique. Plagiarism
(the use or close imitation of the language and ideas of another author
and representation of them as one's own original work) will not be
tolerated. Anyone who is "inspired" by another writer's work in the
Group should confer with that writer before undertaking an endeavor that
could possibly be construed as plagiaristic. When in doubt: ask.<br /><br /><strong>How we treat each other</strong><br /><br />We
are not only writers, but human beings. All communication (oral and
written) amongst group members should be respectful. During critique
sessions, criticism will be focused on the work, and not the individual.
All writers in the critique circle must be given the opportunity to
share their thoughts and criticism on the submitted work; as a diverse
group of writers, critique might be focused on divergent aspects of the
work, so it's important that the submitting writer has the opportunity
to ingest and respond to all critique of their work.Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16050672335070483150noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8834909738864389010.post-47056249443589261742012-04-08T15:09:00.001+02:002012-04-08T15:21:29.966+02:00Of Haggadahs, Passover, and the Sexist Roots of JudaismFor decades the home of my parents has been Passover central, with a staggering number of holiday meals served (at least 1500 - nothing for McDonalds, but a lot for one Jewish family with an averaged sized living room in a suburban home), traditional songs sung loudly and off key, and haggadahs read. The Haggadah is the book of Passover. In our home, it's wine-stained, torn, and stuffed with copied pages of new readings to share with family, friends, and strangers. As part of our seder, a word that means "order," we have shared, created, and edited a story of liberation, slavery, longing, and justice. It is an active tradition.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjK4y-vvYA0Ea8NON6f5dPC6y3C8uFWIVCr__OH7dAzJGsg4zi_LKkk3g5NNxE6EIYEcQWMdq5JFX_xYYS9sNsuzRuRYEe2oTNVWZxN5M0XGBxS0A5VPWdcSa11WY8_WoVqoYb5J2Ycmw/s1600/P4200038.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="240" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjK4y-vvYA0Ea8NON6f5dPC6y3C8uFWIVCr__OH7dAzJGsg4zi_LKkk3g5NNxE6EIYEcQWMdq5JFX_xYYS9sNsuzRuRYEe2oTNVWZxN5M0XGBxS0A5VPWdcSa11WY8_WoVqoYb5J2Ycmw/s320/P4200038.JPG" /></a></div><br />
<b>Not My Father's Seder</b><br />
<br />
The seder I grew up with was boisterous. It was my father's gift to us, his five children, one unlike those he grew up with, which went on for hours in a language he neither spoke nor understood. "That was a seder for men," my father always tells us. My mother grew up in a retail family, which meant most Passovers were spent working selling Easter finery to farmers.<br />
<br />
My father was determined that our seder welcome and include children. As the years passed, our celebration also welcomed and included women. We altered the texts and sometimes even referred to God as she. New texts and traditions were added regularly. My brother introduced a fifth cup of wine to the <a href="http://www.chabad.org/holidays/passover/pesach_cdo/aid/658549/jewish/Why-four-cups-of-wine.htm">four </a>tradition demanded to remind us of those killed during the Holocaust. My cousin added a cup filled with water to remind us of the well discovered by <a href="http://haggadot.com/clip/miriams-cup-0">Miriam </a>during the forty-year wandering in the desert. My friend added the orange to the seder plate as a rebuke to a man who had said, "A woman belongs on the bima as much as an orange belongs on a seder plate." (A bit or <a href="http://jwa.org/blog/he-orange-on-seder-plate-and-miriams-cup-foregrounding-women-at-your-seder">research</a> informs me that the orange was originally added in support of gays and lesbians. This new bit of information, no doubt, will be incorporated into our seder next year.) We replaced the "sons" with children. We added our mothers to our fathers. We heard the voices of women in the never ending story of freedom from slavery.<br />
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<br />
<b>The New American Haggadah</b><br />
<br />
When I heard Nathan Englander speak about the work of writing a<a href="http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/jonathan-safran-foer-celebrates-passover-with-a-new-edition-of-the-haggadah-1.422988"> new Haggadah</a> in an <a href="http://www.npr.org/2012/02/15/146920283/nathan-englander-assimilating-thoughts-into-stories">interview with Terry Gross</a>, I was thrilled. A great writer, a secularist, with deep roots in Jewish tradition, and a knowledge of Hebrew had reimagined the Haggadah! I knew it would be something I wanted, something that would enhance my celebration of Passover.<br />
<br />
I <a href="http://www.amazon.com/American-Haggadah-Jonathan-Safran-Foer/dp/0316069868">ordered </a>it, and it arrived in time for the first seder.<br />
<br />
I opened it randomly and read this first:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>"Here I am, prepared and ardent, allied and present, ready to perform the mitzvah of the first cup, the enactment of salvation's promise."<br />
</blockquote><i>Prepared and ardent, allied and present.</i> What thrilling language! Give me more. The writing throughout is immediate, clear, and gripping. The Haggadah is filled with intriguing bits of commentary and little details that are interesting. In the end it is a failure. Women and girls are relegated to the margins where we get a mention or two on the timeline, but the traditions we have added to the seder over the years are nowhere to be found.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6XN43ZZYIbTLCeZJXEHS2P28zRfzGmi-6OmJlnFgP676kdqV4rzpNwhxThjXZJGkAPckxcMB5zhMFBOpFhiavh5BApCEzAmNnMtJ57-mF-6G_gH7y9CeR_U7ECRjbGKjSrPPpeWioSEs/s1600/maxwell-house-haggadah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="300" width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6XN43ZZYIbTLCeZJXEHS2P28zRfzGmi-6OmJlnFgP676kdqV4rzpNwhxThjXZJGkAPckxcMB5zhMFBOpFhiavh5BApCEzAmNnMtJ57-mF-6G_gH7y9CeR_U7ECRjbGKjSrPPpeWioSEs/s400/maxwell-house-haggadah.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The New American Haggadah reflects very little of the tradition of my family or of others who have used the ubiquitous and imperfect Maxwell House Haggadah as the inspiration for self-made traditions and new readings. As reformed Jews, we have as much of a right to our heritage and ritual as the orthodox and the lapsed orthodox. And our heritage is one that has struggled (as Jacob struggled with God) to include the voices of women and the marginilized. This is<br />
especially true on Passover, when families become the centers for religious interpretation rather than rabbis and congregations, and when the story is one of overcoming oppression and injustice. <br />
<br />
<b>A Boy's Guide to Passover</b><br />
<br />
The New American Haggadah is written by two men who obviously did not share the tradtion of change and inclusion I gew up with. It has erased decades of American Jewish learning by reverting to the old order of a story passed on from fathers to sons. Given the opportunity to include the voices of women, the retelling gives us more male voices and more male voices: it's awash in testosterone.<br />
<br />
Reading the Haggadah reminded me of the sexist core of Judaism, not the beauty of tradition and ritual. Like all Haggadahs that have come before it, the best parts will be copied and inserted into the worn out Maxwell House Haggadah we've been using since before I was born. It will not replace the self-made books in my home or the homes of many I know who celebrate Passover as a living tradition that over the years has come to include the stories of women and girls, mothers and daughters, as much as those of fathers and sons and rabbis and disciples.<br />
<br />
The <i>New American Haggadah</i> squandered an amazing opportunity to reflect the new traditions of many American Jews by diminishing our contributions and ritual and reverting to the sexist core of the religion. It would be better titled <i>A Boy's Guide to Passover</i>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09092236941440210165noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8834909738864389010.post-50464518716090268052012-04-04T22:52:00.000+02:002012-04-06T10:59:04.455+02:00Apocalypse Then & Now<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-80oMxftQiu8/T3yvI23X8EI/AAAAAAAAABQ/yvou3_IOrxA/s1600/boom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-80oMxftQiu8/T3yvI23X8EI/AAAAAAAAABQ/yvou3_IOrxA/s400/boom.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt;">Our fascination with the End of the World
certainly predates modern publishing (and even predates the Great Flood and <i>Revelations</i>), but t</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 13px;">he volume of "Apocalypse literature" seems to have literally exploded in the past few years (thanks, Kindle!). This speaks to the increasing popularity - and continued commercial opportunity, but when publication volumes were low, did writers reflect the general anxiety of their times, or were they simply inspired by an earthquake or volcanic eruption to spin a tale? Was Armageddon their focus, a setting, or simply a plot device?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt;">This isn’t a philosophical thread, but for hundreds of years now, “Apocalypse fiction” has therapeutically spun tales about every type of
disaster imaginable – nuclear war, viral outbreaks, sun flares, asteroid
impacts, giant radiated flora and fauna, alien invasions, the Rapture,
ecological or social collapse, and now increasingly – the rise of the undead. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt;">The</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 13px;"> first example of Apocalypse fiction was actually the </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt;">first science fiction novel ever: <i>Theologus
Autodidacticus</i>, by Ibn al-Nafis, written in the 13</span><sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 9pt;">th</span></sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt;">
century. For this
physician-philosopher, the Apocalypse was simply a means to his end: a
philosophical rebuttal. The next surviving example of Apocalypse fiction wasn't for another 700-odd years. ln Mary Shelley’s <i>The Last Man</i> (1826) we get our first intimate – and grim –
examination of life in humanity’s last days (after a plague). Our
first alien invasion was of <i>War of the Worlds</i>, but H.G. Wells also portended the inevitable decline of man’s era in <i>The Time Machine. </i>Why did human civilization fail? Perhaps for no reason
at all except that all things must come to an end.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt;">Things picked up in the 1900s: a volcanic
eruption sent a cloud of cyanide gas into the atmosphere (<i>The Purple Cloud</i>, by M.P. Shiel), the sun exploded (<i>The Night Land</i>, W.H. Hodgson), the
machines rose (<i>R.U.R.</i>, the play by
Karel Capek that gave us the word “robot”), and of course - there was war, lots and <i>lots</i> of war.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt;">A brave soul on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_apocalyptic_and_post-apocalyptic_fiction">Wikipedia</a> actually attempted to
collect and classify all Apocalypse-themed media out there: novels, short stories, poems, songs,
films, television programs, and even video games. I wondered if grouping the literature on that list and portraying it visually might tell us something about literary trends: did they reflect the real anxieties of the time, greater cultural trends (e.g., movies), or simply market forces?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; text-align: left;">To be clear, the Wikipedia list is imperfect and incomplete. This is no criticism of the list's editor, as there’s no easy way to capture the recent explosion in zombie fiction (literally thousands of titles are on Amazon with publishing dates from 2010) or track down the countless short stories appearing in decades’ worth of pulps (or the more respectable pages of </span><i style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; text-align: left;">Omni</i><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; text-align: left;">). Despite these limitations, I</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 13px;"> went ahead and extracted the Apocalypse prose, poetry, comics, and plays, grouped them into broader categories (e.g., giant asteroids, exploding suns, sun flares, etc. are together under "Celestial Bodies" and the Rapture-related fiction is under "Supernatural" together with ghosts, demons, etc.) and graphed the past 70-odd years below:</span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VkVqdJkYh14/T3yv4eGeFgI/AAAAAAAAABY/zfzbjX2uuC0/s1600/Slide1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VkVqdJkYh14/T3yv4eGeFgI/AAAAAAAAABY/zfzbjX2uuC0/s640/Slide1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; text-align: left;"><b>Graph showing publication trends (number of titles) in Apocalypse fiction: 1940-present (source: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_apocalyptic_and_post-apocalyptic_fiction">Wikipedia</a>)</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b>(NB. pre-1940 volumes are too low and post-2009 volumes are too high)</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 13px;">Because of its inherent incompleteness, I would take the booming interest in Apocalypse fiction that this graph suggests with a grain of salt. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt;">If there’s a tale to tell, it’s that the spikes
in some sub-genres do coincide with the anxieties of our collective conscience (something I touched on in my previous <a href="http://zolderwriters.blogspot.com/2012/03/when-science-fiction-gets-it-wrong.html">post</a>).
I’ve illustrating this by mapping a few seminal events alongside their
sub-genres to show the apparent spike in publication volume.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt;">Looking at the “War” line in pink,
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the publication of World War III-related fiction spiked following multiple Soviet “victories” and Ronald Reagan’s subsequent tough
talk. Similarly, the anxieties spurred on by the AIDS epidemic created a lot of plague-related tales (and unfortunately manifested itself as irrational prejudice against innocents like Ryan White, who was barred from his school so he wouldn't "infect" anybody). You can be sure bird flu and hoof & mouth also did their part. Finally, the multiple environmental events that led to the
establishment of Earth Day gave us all sorts of juicy possibilities for writers to portray the coming, inevitable collapse of our climate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt;">The success of the ground-breaking leaders in
each sub-genre (subjectively, I would say <i>War of the Worlds</i>, <i>On the
Beach</i>, <i>Day of the Triffids, A Canticle for Liebowitz, Childhood’s End and now
World War Z</i>) spurred on loads of copy cats: just take a look in
Amazon.com how many “Zombie Survival Manuals” are out there following Max Brooks' efforts. This <a href="http://www.abebooks.co.uk/books/apocalypse-end-world-armageddon/post-apocalyptic-fiction.shtml">site</a> has a good, definitive list of modern Apocalypse fiction. In each instance, the writers on that list deliver "the well told tale" through </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 13px;">character-driven stories of the survivors,</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt;"> reflections on the end of the human era, and gripping descriptions of the how the End arrived.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt;">My only anxiety? Who’s going to continue updating that Wikipedia entry if we’re all gone?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt;">- Chris</span></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8834909738864389010.post-62758255209143152032012-03-28T14:15:00.000+02:002012-03-28T14:15:00.679+02:00Eric's Personal Tips for Blogging<div class="content_full">
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Blogging is a unique kind of writing (and reading, for that matter). Since I've been blogging for about seven years now, I've had a number of friends ask me for advice about blogging and website development. Certainly, I'm not an
expert in these things, and regularly repeat the fact that I don't really have
any polished, succint listing of tips that I've picked up through the
years. But I <i>do </i>typically try to share a few scattered ideas that might be
helpful. So since we're still in the early stages of developing this space, I figured I might share some of my perspectives here in this space as
well. These are a few of the random thoughts that come to my mind:<br />
<ul>
<li>Quantity of posting is more important than quality of posting: When
it comes to generating web traffic and maintaining followers, it's
important to post more often than to ensure that "the perfect post" is
sitting there, waiting for readers. The major search engines refer
queries to the most recent posts on a given topic -- so it's important
to always have something fresh. I generally post 10-18 times per month
(although I know other, more serious bloggers who do it much more
frequently!).</li>
<li>Use simple language expressing sincere thoughts and emotions, more than trying to maintain any slick PR presence.</li>
<li>Encourage comments and make a point to regularly respond to comments
(within the comment section of the blog itself), so people will keep
coming back to carry on the dialogue within your web space.</li>
<li>Write about stuff that's meaningful to you. For a friend of mine who was developing an Alpine adventure business, I suggested focusing on things like "a sweet spot you found
to go fly-fishing… photographs from the excursions… specific, personal,
bullet-point highlights from the excursions (i.e. "that morning when
Alessandro fell into the river")… sharing the joys of the wilderness
with your children… a great time of reflection that you had while hiking
through the mountains… These are just a few guesses of things that you
might be able to write about." But it's most important that the material
be interesting for you -- not what you think might be interesting for
your readers. This is the only way you'll be able to keep up any
frequency of posting, and oddly enough this is what makes a blog most
interesting to follow.</li>
<li>Use a lot of sensory cues when you write (what things smelled like, tasted like, felt like, sounded like, looked like).</li>
<li>Keep your posts short (500 words or less).</li>
<li>If you don't feel like you're really going to be able to keep up a
blog (at least one post per week), I would recommend that you just scrap
the blog idea and keep your website to being a sort of on-line, electronic business card or
brochure (which has its own usefulness). A lifeless blog is worse than
having no blog at all.</li>
</ul>
What do you think of these tips? Would you agree with my advice, or
would you contradict any of my suggestions? Are there any other random
tips that you would add to such a list? It's interesting for me to note
that I don't always stick to my own ideals, when it comes to blogging!
But these are at least interesting things to think about... I'd be very
curious to get feedback from anyone else who might have his or her own
opinions and experiences in these matters (and if anything good comes
up, I'll pass it along to my friends, too!).<br />
</div>
</div>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16050672335070483150noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8834909738864389010.post-4740805907320133722012-03-27T13:46:00.000+02:002012-03-27T13:46:13.879+02:00The Mumbai Blues<span id="internal-source-marker_0.2735360988881439"><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is a foggy November evening. I nod vigorously over a glass of Merlot whilst Lodewijk tells me of his years in Bombay. As he speaks of restaurants and spices, his eyes glitter and his voice takes on this excited animation. His wife Brigitte remembers the gorgeous bolts of brocade she found in Khar market, sheets of raw silk that have now become much-envied curtains. Another friend speaks of the sounds of the Ganesh festival, the Portuguese-accented Konkani and the characteristic hollow clap of the roadside </span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">hijra, </span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the roadside eunuch</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">. As each of them dwells on old memories of the city, I smile again. This is a familiar scene.</span></span><br class="kix-line-break" /><br class="kix-line-break" /><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">It took me a while to realize a new life does not happen all at once. In fact, when I left Mumbai to move to Amsterdam two years ago, I did not see this coming. My new life was crafty. It seduced me, winked at me from corners and made promises of sparkling canals and fluffy snow. Although I did not know it at the time, everything was changing, slowly but steadily. It started with the most inane things – cold breakfasts and thick duvets – and did not stop until it deposited me in an entirely different world.</span></span><br class="kix-line-break" /><br class="kix-line-break" /><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Life in Amsterdam is like taking a giant step into a modern village, with huge parks and bicycles paths everywhere. Moving from the incredible Mumbai pace to a sleepy complacent city needed effort, tons of it. I slowly began to get used to sparkling canals, snow-clad roofs and the incredible summer weather. I made my peace with most shops shutting at 5 and staying closed on the weekends. I grew accustomed to the sea of black jackets walking around in winter and the fact that fashion here is very limited. I surrounded myself with endless books, joined a library and a writing group. I made friends from all over the world and realised that I actually loved my Indian family here. Like Amsterdam, my life became calm, more Zen. </span></span><br class="kix-line-break" /><br class="kix-line-break" /><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was an afternoon leafing through a Steve McCurry book that triggered my Mumbai nostalgia. His photographs released a host of memories, bursting in like fresh sunlight after a storm. Suddenly I began to notice the unremarkable Dutch food, the constant freezing rain and the surly service. The canals had become a murky brown and the cheery Dutch frugality began to get under my skin. The lack of sunlight began to unnerve me and even pesto would not help. One day it all came out in a sobbing and blubbering fit – until my husband gently sat me down to console me. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Even everyday life had dramatically changed. There was no Prithvi theatre to seek refuge at and no tiny lunch homes with unbelievable food. Now the morning azaan that used to echo in my neighbourhood had been replaced with the church bells from Westerkerk. My daily pani-puri fix had been exchanged for caramel macchiato and if I needed a dosa, I had to make one. Desperate for any flavor of Mumbai, I watched Hindi movies that ought never be seen. I became that person who bores her friends to tears gushing about the food in Mumbai, humming terrible Hindi songs and following Bollywood actors’ love lives online. I missed the myriad colours I took for granted, the food and the incredible sun. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I told my pragmatic mother as much, she scoffed down the phone. She reminded me of the real world, of our maid in Mumbai who worked 5 houses a day to rent a tiny room, of the now almost-regular train blasts, of the time my father took me to a murky part of town to show me the slums, where each house had at least one member who went without food that day. <br class="kix-line-break" /><br class="kix-line-break" />Of course she was right. Mumbai is a very different place for some, a cruel, expensive and filthy city that is bursting at its seams. But that same city with all the beggars is the city that reached out to others, offering food and a roof to those stranded in the rains. The people who clean our houses also become part of our lives, joining in our celebrations and sorrows. The city with the filthy underbelly is also the one place where I feel completely safe. Where I delight in coming across the unexpected. Where else do you see quirky Parsi colonies jostling for space alongside a Portuguese fishing village? Who would believe that in this bustling city, there are thousands and thousands of flamingos coming to roost in a marshland? <br class="kix-line-break" /><br class="kix-line-break" />I wish I could say this was just homesickness, but I think it is saying goodbye to one part of my life and making room for another. Mumbai is ever changing and now just two years later, is a very different place to the home I left behind. My husband and I often wonder if any future child of ours will be able to comprehend it at all, or if the words “Mumbai spirit” will ever mean anything to them? If they will ever understand the innate need of the city to help the needy, to party as hard as it works, to toughen you up properly for the real world. Somehow, I doubt it.</span><br />
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" />That evening at the dinner party we ended up barbecuing butter-garlic crabs. We watched German-dubbed Hindi movies and discussed the best and worst of the new Bollywood crop. Someone had brought a crate of Kingfisher and we slowly drained it, debating Anna Hazare and the now-legendary corruption. We talked about our favourite Mumbai restaurants and changes in the school system. We talked into the wee hours of the morning over makeshift brun-maska and chai, looking at old pictures of colonial Bombay, marvelling at the trees and brooks, Dutch, German, Indian and English accents mingling together to speak fondly of one city. The ability to bring people together, this is my favourite thing about Mumbai. </span></span>The Entropy of Smruthyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01676249848651244744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8834909738864389010.post-18107750213437127632012-03-27T07:00:00.006+02:002012-03-27T07:00:04.745+02:00Top 5 Aussie booksFor some reason, conceiving a top 5 for Australian literature has more weight to it than conceiving a top 5 for myself. Must be the burden of the home country: particularly one that is still under colonial rule.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">1. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloudstreet">Cloudstreet</a></span> by Tim Winton. An Australian epic. Although I still prefer his collection of short stories titled <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Turning_%28stories%29"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Turning</span></a>. The guy wrote his first book when he was 19 at university. At 52 he already has an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Winton#Novels">unfathomable oeuvre</a>.<br /><br />2. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Imaginary_Life"><span style="font-style: italic;">An Imaginary Life</span></a> by David Malouf, the most underrated of all Australian writers for mine. A cut at Ovid's exile in Tomis from the Roman empire executed with brilliant simplicity, respect and modernity (somehow). You can't go wrong with <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembering_Babylon">Remembering Babylon</a> </span>(winner of Dublin Lit Award, Prix Baudelaire) and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnno"><span style="font-style: italic;">Johnno</span></a> (bildungsroman) by the same author.<br /><br />3. To a more overrated Australian author (now deceased): Patrick White. Probably because he won the Nobel Prize for Literature, the only Australian-born citizen to do so. I tried reading <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vivisector">The Vivisector</a> </span>one time without success. I want to read <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voss_%28novel%29"><span style="font-style: italic;">Voss</span></a> (his other best, supposedly) or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tree_of_Man"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Tree of Man</span></a>.<br /><br />4. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Fraction_of_the_Whole"><span style="font-style: italic;">A Fraction of the Whole</span></a> by Steve Toltz (2008). Another one I have not read, but judging from the reviews and reception, this book will become a firm member of the Australian canon.<br /><br />5. ? No clear winner for this spot. A bunch of potentials. Time will tell.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8834909738864389010.post-53060077221764325552012-03-20T22:31:00.002+01:002012-03-22T20:29:32.030+01:00When Science Fiction Gets it Wrong (Horribly Wrong)<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><i>"The recorder in his backpack vibrated noiselessly to make a holotape recording of the network of buildings ... the Colony was ten kilometers farther on, but electronically enhanced lenses brought its low buildings close enough to touch."</i> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">- <i>The Legacy of Heorot</i>, by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle & Steven Barnes, Copyright 1987. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">“Anachronistic science fiction”</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> is my term for SF writing that posits a future we now know never happened. The above is a great example of why I love re-reading it: unintentional entertainment value. In <i>Heorot</i>, humans travel through interstellar space (at FTL speeds) and work with the technologies of suspended animation and genetic engineering, yet are forced to haul around a cumbersome recording device that sounds suspiciously like an 8-track tape deck combines with a laser disc player. Why?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">In 1986, most U.S. homes were still using 5 3/4 floppy drives and the digital compact disc and laser discs were just making headway. Media storage still “felt” big and bulky. I’ve no doubt the “holotape” sounded really cutting edge. Or perhaps it was just plain laziness (I love the fudging when they get to "electronically enhanced lenses" - hilarious!) </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">since digital recording technology - compact discs to you and me - were being tested in the R&D labs of Philips as far back as the mid-1970s.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt;">Dick Tracy ca. 1961: <i>He</i> understood <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore's_law">Moore's Law</a></span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">NB - the holotaping didn't detract from the over-arching story in <i>Heorot</i> - a cautionary tale of how not to mess with nature when colonizing a new world. I've no doubt the script writers for <i>Avatar </i>were probably inspired by it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">While it’s entertaining for me to see how an SF writer’s then-contemporary view of technology was convincingly extrapolated into something we now know to be off-base, what I love most about anachronistic science fiction is the way it reflects the collective anxieties, conscience, and popular culture of the period during which it was written. It’s a form of nostalgia, really. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Inspired by <i>Heorot’s</i> holotaping session, I conducted an unscientific survey of my SF library to find other examples of “anachronistic SF”, trying to understand what it told me about the author’s choice’s and if those wrong choices really mattered. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Unsurprisingly, I was able to easily group my findings:</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Cloud Computing & the Power of the Network</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">William Gibson popularized the notion of a global information network (called "the Matrix" in his seminal 1983 book <i>Neuromancer</i>), describing it with unmatched prescience. Yet even he forces his protagonists to chase down a ROM construct - a piece of hardware - as his novel's McGuffin. In <i>Snow Crash </i>(one of my favorite SF novels ever), Neal Stephenson can't help himself when a library's worth of information is transferred from one computer to another via virtual reality interface:</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt;">My UK first edition – with stock photos from </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt;"><i>Max Headroom</i>, apparently</span></b></div>
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<i style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">"The world freezes and grows dim for a second... Clearly, his computer has taken a major hit; all of its circuits are busy processing a huge bolus of data - the contents of the hypercard."</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">How clumsy this sounds today, downloading terabytes when it's all in the cloud. Will the average household be saving anything on a hard drive</span><i style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"> at all </i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">in five years? (Many don't now thanks to Spotify, YouTube, Wikipedia, Dropbox, etc.) I think it's difficult for anyone born before 1980 to let go of the diskette, the disk, the chip (including the ubiquitous “credit chip” - the universal monetary unit throughout the galaxy in numerous books!), the tape, the coins, the cards, the </span><i style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">medium</i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">It's a guilty pleasure seeing Stephenson get it wrong - especially since he's always so damned right. His most trenchant observation in <i>Snow Crash </i>is one of human nature and technology, namely, our willingness to give up hours and days and weeks - and for some, the rest of their lives, to hang out in virtual reality. People are doing this already using only boring "flatland" applications (using Stephenson's parlance) like Facebook rather than the 3D VR Matrix.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The (living) Red Planet</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Starting in 1912, Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote and published the adventures of John Carter, a Civil War veteran mysteriously transported to Mars. The red planet he describes has the canals and breathable air. We know today that the canals we thought we saw on Mars in 1912 aren’t canals at all, and that everything else Burroughs posited about Mars is bunk. The thing is, Burroughs’ Mars was ten times better than the real thing, with warring aliens having at it with 1912 (or is it 1865?) technology, leaping at each other from wooden-decked airships wielding swords and long rifles. As a 13 year-old walking hormone in the 1980s, those <a href="http://www.erbzine.com/mars/ffmars.html">Frank Frazetta covers</a> pulled me in and the swordplay and outrageous racial (as in human) chauvinism of the hero that kept me there. The inaccuracies didn't matter. That a nine-figure film has been produced suggests that I'm not the only one with this opinion. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The Soviet Union</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 11px;"><b>For amber waves of - uh oh...</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">America's bogey man for five decades, it goes without saying that a raft of exploitative SF novels were written (especially in the 1980s) where the Soviet Union - godless, monolithic, and populated with sinister men all named Dragonov – challenged America’s sovereignty, invaded its shores, took control outer space, and tried to destroy democracy. These writers were addressing what so many of us felt was an inevitable showdown. For years, the Soviet Union was unbeatable on the field of battle or sport, so it seemed logical they’d eventually triumph. Only they didn’t.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The worst of these books can now exclusively be found in the bargain bin at a garage sale, yet even “good” SF novels sometimes can’t resist citing some eventual triumph by the USSR in their pages. In Arthur C. Clarke's <i>2010: Odyssey Two</i>, the Soviet (and Chinese) space programs rival those of America, and Clarke can’t help but sprinkle the names of prominent Soviet political dissidents like physicists <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Sakharov"><span style="color: windowtext;">Andrei Sakharov</span></a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Orlov"><span style="color: windowtext;">Yuri Orlov</span></a> into the pages.It’s less intrusive in other books (e.g., Orson Scott Card's <i>Ender's Game</i>), but it doesn’t take much to make an otherwise good story hopelessly quaint.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">World War III </span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">The study of Apocalypse literature is worthy of a blog entry (or a book) of its own, but WW III goes hand-in-hand with the Soviet Union as an anxiety that was at the front of everyone’s brain for decades.</span><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">If you did duck and cover drills in the 1960s, or watched a television “event” like </span><i style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">The Day After </i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">i</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">n the 1980s</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">, you were anxious about it; and how we would deal with the war and its aftermath have been the subject of countless books and movies. The literature on the subject ranged from real “literature” to fair-to-poor pop culture-ready Road Warrior rehashes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The “literature” of this genre (</span><i style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">A Canticle for Liebowitz</i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">, by Walter M. Miller, Jr.,</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><i style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">On the Beach, </i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">by Nevil Shute) focused on literary themes like the nature of man and the role of hope while following the survivors.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The action-oriented Road Warrior rehashes (</span><i style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Damnation Alley</i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">, by Roger Zelazny, the</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><i style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Traveler</i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">series,</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><i style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">the</i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><i style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Survivalist</i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">series) were exactly that: action, violence, and plain fanboy fun. As a young teenager, my favorite was by far and away</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><i style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Traveler</i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">series. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Those who wrote the series under the pseudonym D.B. Drumm had the acumen to include absolutely everything: a deadly loner with a dark past (natch), awesome vehicles with crossbows and flame throwers, hot damsels in distress who have sex with the hero</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">, punked out, road marauding enemies (who always get their just desserts), mutants, outposts of civilization and hope, and remnants of the U.S. military pursuing the hero (but who always got their just desserts); like I said, they left out nothing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">The “trashier” books are probably lying in the bargain bin with the “Soviet domination” books, but the “literature” end of the spectrum still holds up. In </span><i style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Liebowitz</i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">, the initial nuclear conflict (whoops, spoiler!) is the launching point of the novel, which is far greater than the sum of its three parts.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">I would love to hear of any other entertaining examples if you’ve got ‘em. I would distinguish anachronistic SF from the now-popular allohistorical fiction (AKA, alternative history), which are deliberate “what if” studies. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The lesson here is that the more existential the SF author keeps the science and future events, the longer a shelf life the story will have. Easier said than done. We know the keyboard won’t last much longer (<a href="http://cs3240group07.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/a-brief-history-of-the-keyboard/">the QWERTY array is almost 125 years old</a>), and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law">Moore’s Law</a> says supercomputers shouldn’t take up a whole room like the HAL 9000 did (or real supercomputers do), but if you know a credible way to describe what will replace them, there may be better money for you as a futurist than an SF writer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> - Chris</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2