Category Archives: rant

Susan Cooper Named as SFWA Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master

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SFWA has named Susan Cooper as the 40th Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master. Congratulations to Ms. Cooper. Susan Cooper is known primarily for a five book sequence entitled The Dark is Rising. I have a copy of the SFBC omnibus edition in a box somewhere, but I haven’t read it. Like most of her work, it is written for younger readers, but it can also be enjoyed by adults. She has written a few other books for children and middle grade readers.

Some general thoughts on this awad to follow below the fold. Continue reading →

From Dangerous Visions to Safe Spaces

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Let’s take a trip back in time, shall we?

Back in the 1950s and early 1960s, the digests magazines, successors to the pulps, might have had racy covers (although not generally as racy as the pulps), but their content was pretty tame.

Along comes a young man named Harlan Ellison. Ellison was something of a troublemaker. I’m not trying to be disparaging by thay statement. He himself said as much on numverous occasions.

Ellison, along with some other writers, Silverberg comes to mind, felt that there were too many taboos in science fiction. This was before fantasy became the publishing juggernaut it is today. So in 1967, Ellison edited an anthology entitled Dangerous Visions. In it, Ellison published stories that were supposed to break the taboos of the day. Dangerous stories. Visionary stories.

Hence the title. Continue reading →

Amazon’s Packaging Has Gone to Crap

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Anybody had a similar experience to this recently?

You order a book from Amazon, specifically a trade paperback. It arrives in a bubble envelope with bubbles that are pretty flat. You open the envelope to find the book damaged.

The damages can vary. Corners are usually bent no matter what other damage there is. The cover and some or all of the pages have a crease running the length of the book. The crease may or may not be noticeable at a casual glance.

I’ve had all of these happen in the last several orders. The one that takes the cake, though, is the issue of Occult Detective Magazine that arrived with a broken spine. I don’t mean the spine was cracked along its length because someone opened it too wide. The crack was across the spine. In other words, the spine had a bend in it of about fifteen to twenty degrees. The pages were torn  on the inside; they were layered like a partially shuffled deck of cards.

I wish I had taken a picture before I sent it back.

The replacement copy was creased across the lower right corner. The copy of Renegade Swords III that arrived yesterday had a crease down the right hand side, cover and some interior pages. Neither of these were worth the aggravation of trying to get a replacement copy.

It didn’t use to be this way. There was a time where the worst thing about the ‘Zon’s packaging was your book might arrive in a flimsy cardboard box with no packaging.

So, I’m going to start actively looking for alternatives to Amazon, at least for paperbacks. Trade published books I can order from B&N, which has its own set of problems, but I can have the books delivered to the store.

Any ideas about indie and small press print books, such as where I might be able to get them without going through Amazon? I know Lulu is an option for some products, but not all.  Suggestions would be appreciated.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss

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Theodore Geisel, AKA Dr. Seuss, was born on this day, March 2 in 1904. He passed away in 1991. He wrote and illustrated many of my favorite and my son’s favorite books from early childhood.

Yes, I know he’s being canceled. Or at least some of his books are. Some people have decided that they have racist content.

Really? Dr. Seuss?

Whatever.

I don’t really care they claim about his books. I’m getting really tired of people saying I shouldn’t have access to reading material (or movies, or…) because they don’t approve of it or it isn’t woke enough. And don’t get me started on the recent attempt to get Baen Books deplatformed.

I don’t need someone to tell me what I can’t read. Or what I should read. I’ll read whatever I please, and it’s no one’s business what I read. If someone objects to it, that’s only going to make me read more of it. *Looks at shelves containing Kipling, Haggard, Howard, Lovecraft, and Uncle Remus.* That includes Dr. Seuss. What I’m going to read even less of than I already do is what’s coming out of the major publishers or anything promoted because it’s woke.

If that last paragraph offends you, go screw yourself.

Firing the Canon: An Appreciation of H. P. Lovecraft

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I was going to do a review in honor of H. P. Lovecraft’s birthday (August 20, 1890-1937) , but then one of the usual suspects, a writer noted for ripping off writing in the styles of better writers from a previous generation ignited a small tempest in a teapot about the need of having a canon, or in his case, not having one. No, that’s not a typo in the title of this post. He wants to fire the canon, as in “You’re fired”. Those are my terms, not his, just to be clear.

So here are my thoughts, using the Gentleman From Providence as a key example since it’s become so fashionable to hate on him. And John W. Campbell, Jr., and Issac Asimov, and Robert E. Howard, and… Continue reading →

Something Old, Something New

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Or Those Who Fail to Study History…

This is gonna be a rant, just so you know.

So over the weekend, a controversy got started on Twitter. Like when doesn’t a controversy get started on Twitter, right?

Anyway, this one involved someone saying that if you want to be published, you should read at least one book published in the last five years so you would know the trends in publishing. I think the word “beg” may have been used. Continue reading →

Remembering the Eagle

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Today, July 20, 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of a man walking on the Moon for the first time.  I don’t remember the landing, although I certainly remember the Apollo program and the later landings.  (Tang, anyone?)

I believe it was Jerry Pournelle who said he expected to live to see the first Moon landing but never expected to live to see the last.  I have to agree with him.  There’s talk of going back, but I’m skeptical we’ll do it.  At least I’m skeptical the US will do it within my lifetime, assuming I die of natural causes (formerly known as “old age” on death certificates) rather than an accident of some sort.

However, I’m not writing this post to be cynical.  (Yes, cynical would be an improvement.)  Going to the Moon is a major achievement.  And while I certainly believe that “because it’s there” is sufficient justification for exploring, there are added benefits.  The spin off technology alone has transformed society.  There’s something in the American psyche, and in humanity in general, that can be summed up as a need for frontiers.  It is part of the human condition to explore.

So I want to take a moment to thank Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and all those who paved the way before and followed after.  I only hope my children, grandchildren, and their progeny will not only follow in your footsteps but go beyond, to Mars, the asteroids, the moons of the outer planets, the Kuiper belt, and eventually the stars.  Thank you gentlemen for showing us the way forward.

I’m going to work my way through The Eagle Has Landed.  I’ve read about 25% of the stories here previously, maybe more.  Some of the titles are familiar, I’m not sure I’ve read them.

If I post any reviews, they will be over on Futures Past and Present.

A Post on Representation in Which I’m Crankier Than Usual

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There was a post on a major genre blog a few days ago that rankled a bit when I read it.  I’m not going to link to it because I don’t want anyone to think I’m attacking the author.  I’m not.  I’d never heard of this person, although a search showed they had written some reviews I hadn’t bothered to read, mainly because the books they were reviewing were either not of interest to me or were in my TBR pile and I didn’t want to deal with spoilers.  To put it another way, I don’t know the author of the post, I bear the author no ill will, and I have no interest in personal attacks on the author.

Attacks on the author’s ideas, though, well, that’s another thing all together. Continue reading →

In Defense of Tolkien

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In case you’ve missed it, a science fiction and fantasy writer of some small critical acclaim (he won a Nebula a while back and has taught at a high end writer’s workshop) has made statements saying Tolkien was racist.  His evidence?  Orcs, according to this writer, represent black people.

Personally, I think it’s racist to compare orcs to any race.  This is fantasy, and there are a number of races in Tolkien’s works.  Hobbits, elves, humans, dwarves.  What ethnic group are they supposed to represent?

I think part of this is an attempt to drum up publicity because he as a new collection out.  (I’m not going tell you who he is because I don’t want to give him any publicity.)  Remember, this is a writer of some critical acclaim.  In other words, he hasn’t published any novels and isn’t making a living from his writing.

I know it’s fashionable to attack the giants of the genre.  It’s how you get a seat at the cool kids’ table.  Personally, considering who some of the cook kids in the field are, I have no desire to sit at their table.

I do feel an urge to reread Tolkien, and the holiday break is coming.  Tolkien is one of the masters of the form, and one who will be remembered long after many of the so called cool kids will be long forgotten.