Losing my religion.

Yesterday I started my vacation on Vancouver Island by purchasing a hundred dollars worth of used books and felt a solid sense of satisfaction that I had done well in finding replacements for some of the more battered novels in my collection.  

Today we visited Munro’s Books in downtown Victoria. Munro's is an excellent independent bookstore, and offers a well-chosen selection of the best in current fantasy and science fiction. In spite of which, I left the store empty handed, enough of a departure from tradition that my wife commented on it with mild surprise. I just couldn't buy anything. After years of book shopping, it suddenly all seemed so unaffordably and unreasonably expensive - it broke me a little.

The problem has nothing to do with inventory as such.  Munro's science fiction section had some excellent options: N. K. Jemisin’s latest, The City We Became; the surprising paper publication of Martha Well's Murderbot Diaries novellas; the award-winning 2019 novel This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone; Andy Weir's third novel, Hail Mary, currently their top selling science fiction novel - which I confess to just having finished in bootleg ePub format rather than spending $38.99 CAD for a hardcover copy (or waiting until August 23rd for the release of the paperback version at $25.95, which hardly seems a savings).

All the shelves seemed to be just packed with expensive hardcovers and pricey trade paperbacks in lieu of cheaper mass market editions. I was particularly unimpressed by the impractical absurdity of a four inch thick collection of Ursula K. Leguin’s Earthsea series, an unwieldy sixty* dollar tome that would defy actual handheld readership.

I recently read somewhere that the end of the mass market paperback is upon us, and if that's the case, I'm sort of checked out as far as new book stores go.  I may well recover, there may be a gradual return to retail book purchasing, but for now, it would appear that for me new books have become the province of birthdays, Geekmas gift list postings and secret Santa suggestions - a sad truth, but a truth nonetheless. 

- Sid

* Actually $59.99, but I don't think that fools anyone anymore, does it?

"Meet your new instructor."

I'm pleased and gratified to see that award-winning science fiction author N. K. Jemisin has been tapped to present a Masterclass course in writing science fiction.  Everything I know about Jemisin suggests that she is an excellent choice as an instructor, with a writing technique that combines superb creativity with rigorous research and consistency.

Sadly, though, I don't think I'll sign up.  It would be interesting, but ultimately I feel that the ship has sailed for me in terms of a possible writing career.  On the other hand, I did take that Chris Hadfield course in being an astronaut, so obviously practicality isn't the only consideration for things like this.

- Sid

Resolution.

 

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the futuristic year of 2019 - yes, I'm fully aware of all the science fiction movies set in 2019 that don't particularly match what is now the present:  Blade Runner, Daybreakers, Akira, The Island, The Running Man, and apparently The Road, although I have no recollection of the date being mentioned in either the book or the movie.*

And Dark, was Dark not set in 2019?

Regardless, with the new year upon us, I feel obliged to look at the results of last year's resolution to make a dent in my backlog of paper novels, to the tune of one a week.  As is so often the case, I didn't manage to keep up with my initial burst of enthusiasm, but if nothing else, I think that I at least managed to break even between reducing the backlog and new acquisitions.

In my defense, I did do some re-reading as well, but overall I wish that I had managed to do better than I did, the books that I did read made for entertaining additions to my repertoire. (Although, to be honest, part of the reason for my non-compliance can be blamed on a couple of books that simply did not hold my interest for a variety of reasons.)

However, it's a new year, and with that, I can make a fresh start with the same goal. I've kicked things off with The Fifth Season, the first book in N. K. Jemisin's award-winning The Broken Earth trilogy - my apologies to all of the nay-sayers who claimed that Jemisin's Best Novel Hugo wins were the result of political correctness, but as it turns out, she's actually just quite a good writer. The Fifth Season was a very good book -  imaginative, unique, clever, and well-written - and I'm looking forward to the next two in the trilogy.

Sadly, I'm retrenching in terms of visual media.  I'd love to be watching everything that's out there in the marketplace, but I feel that I'm just too far in the hole to catch up.  As such, I'm going to concentrate on core programming like Star Trek: Discovery - I never thought I'd say this, but I'm actually a bit relieved that Doctor Who is taking a hiatus for 2019, I can use the break for something else.  To be honest, I haven't even watched the New Year's special yet, hopefully I can get that out of the way before the 2020 season starts.

Right - 2020:  that will be Edge of Tomorrow, Mission to Mars, Pacific Rim, A Quiet Place and Reign of Fire.

Happy New Year to all!

- Sid

* And, really, when you look at that list, I have no regrets that the future has proven inadequate to those visions of it from the past.  I think that Blade Runner is the best of a bad lot in terms of possible futures from that particular collection of options.

Geekmas 2018: Epilogue.

Christmas having come and gone, I can only say that I was overwhelmed by the generosity displayed by the gifts that I received - my heartfelt thanks to everyone involved.

However, to my mild surprise, I received only a single geek-oriented gift - a mug from my friend Chris that commemorates the ill-fated Pabodie Expedition of 1930, sent forth by Maine's Miskatonic University in order to secure deep-level specimens of rock and soil from various points of the antarctic continent (as detailed in H.P. Lovecraft's The Mountains of Madness).  Thanks for keepin' the faith, Chris!

Well, as the saying goes, if you want something done, do it yourself.  I received a good range of Amazon™ gift cards - which I can certainly see as a sensible alternative to trying to coordinate selections from my gift list - and as such, I decided to pick out a few things from that list on behalf of those people.

As a result, currently en route from various locations in Amazon™'s far-flung mercantile empire are: a box set of N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy; Seed of Destruction, the first Hellboy omnibus collection; The Murders of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson, a novel which has been sitting on the wish list for a couple of years; and a DVD copy of The Sword and the Sorcerer from an Amazon™ affiliate located in Germany - hopefully I correctly ordered the NTSC version.  To describe this 1982 epic fantasy as a classic really doesn't do it justice on a multitude of levels, and I'm quite looking forward to revisiting this trashy 80s TV-star vehicle.

As a spontaneous selection that was NOT on the list (prompted by Boxing Day pricing) I ordered Season One of The Expanse, the Syfy series* based on the novels and novelettes by James S. A. Corey, AKA Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck.  The books are a remarkable combination of creativity and realism, and although I had some minor issues with casting, I'm hopeful that the positive fan responses that I've seen indicate that the series has managed to redeem Syfy's somewhat unfortunate record for adaptation.

Once again, my thanks to the various friends and relatives who made these purchases possible.  I hope everyone reading this had a merry Christmas, and my best wishes to all for the New Year.  Here we are again, half way out of the dark...

- Sid

* To be accurate, Syfy for the first two seasons, now an Amazon Prime™ property.

Geekmas 2018: State of Contentment.

https://scottpark.carbonmade.com/

Well, it's finally happened: I have everything I need.

Okay, maybe not everything, but when I sat down to do this year's Geekmas gift suggestions, I found myself unexpectedly at a loss. I have a ridiculous backlog of unread books, I'm a bit gamed out at the moment after spending a LOT of Wasteland time in Fallout 4 over the last year, I'm well stocked in terms of geek t-shirts, my toy shelf is full, I'm good for physical media - what's a contented geek to do?

Regardless of my state of satisfaction, my workplace Secret Santa draw is on the horizon, not to mention people who know me personally who will be Christmas shopping, so I feel obliged to offer some kind of guidance. Let's see what the marketplace holds...

Books
Regardless of the state of my unread book inventory, there are still a couple of things that I'd like to add to the stack, starting with The Fifth Season, the first book in N.K. Jemisin's award winning The Broken Earth trilogy. (If you're feeling spendy, all three, but Amazon.ca™ shows them at a somewhat pricey twenty-two dollars each - trade paperbacks, I assume.   After her epic awards speech at this year's Hugos, I'm more than a little curious to read some of her work.

Luna: Wolf Moon, by Ian McDonald, is actually a sequel request in more ways than one: tt's the follow-up to the excellent Luna: New Moon which I requested - and received - a couple of years back. There's a third book coming (there's a longer conversation we can have about the odd prevalence of trilogies in science fiction) but it's not out until March of 2019, so we can save that one for next year.

Not meaning to be a nag, but Red Seas Under Red Skies, by Scott Lynch, and The Murders of Molly Southbourne, by Tade Thompson are still left on the list from last year.  And there's still that William Gibson book that isn't even supposed to released until December 25th this year...

Games

 

Let's see...there's a new Lovecraft-themed computer game out, Call of Cthulhu from Cyanide Studios, but the reviews have been pretty uniformly unfavourable.*  It's also not available on PC yet as far as I know, which takes it right off the list - sorry, not a console gamer.  I have much higher hopes for Frogwares' The Sinking City, scheduled to hit digital shelves in March of 2019 - it certainly has a much cooler trailer. It's apparently more of an open-world concept game that Call of Cthulhu, which critics describe as being more like the Chaosium™ tabletop RPG that inspired it - perhaps a little too much like it, based on the reviews.

None of which helps for Christmas 2018, unfortunately.  In anticipation of future purchases, perhaps a gift card for the Steam™ game distribution platform is the route to take for this category, although it looks like Steam™ wants you to set up an account before you can give someone a digital gift, which feels like a lot to ask - although it does go directly to the recipient's account, which is handy. The Steam website claims that Shopper's Drug Mart has physical gift cards, but the SDM web site only shows $50 options.  If that's a bit more than you wanted to spend, the easiest solution may be to just give me some cash with a little note that says BUY A GAME FROM STEAM WITH THIS.

Graphic Novels

Amazon.ca** - The Infinity Gauntlet, Wolverine: Old Man Logan, Civil War, Jack Kirby's O.M.A.C.: One Man Army Corps, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Dark Nights: Metal: Dark Knights Rising, Hellboy Omnibus Volume 1: Seed of Destruction.

(Drops mike, leaves stage.)

Blu-rays
Okay, fine, blu-rays, because they're relatively quick and easy, and generally not too pricey: Ant-Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp, the original Westworld, the 1982 cult classic The Sword and the Sorcerer (if you can find it), 12 Monkeys, or The Time Bandits.


Merch
For something local, The Storm Crow*** must have some kind of merch: hats, socks, mugs, t-shirts, something - XL for both of those last two, please, I like large cups of tea and loose t-shirts.  They don't mention it on their web site, but they may sell something over the counter at one of the two Vancouver locations: 1619 Broadway or 1305 Commercial Drive. (This is speculation, by the way, please don't send me angry comments complaining that I sent you on a wild goose chase - although they are fun places to visit.)
Finally, if all else fails, surprise me!  I usually don't recommend that as an option, especially for books, but people have managed to successfully purchase me geek gifts that didn't appear on my wish list in the past.

 As a guideline, I'm pretty old school in my fandom. I tend to take this all pretty seriously, and I lean toward canon, so no "Come to the dark side, we have cookies" t-shirts, not my gig. Think classic - or even vintage. Caveats: as much as I'd love some classic SF movie posters, I have no wall space for the things that I already have, so maybe skip anything in that category.

Good luck!

- Sid

* What I really want is the fascinating 2005 game Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners Of The Earth, which I played most of in a bootleg version many years ago but never finished - mostly because I didn't have any instructions on how the controls worked. (A little research reveals that an Amazon™ vendor would be happy to sell me the original game for $379.33. A little MORE research reveals that it's available on the Steam™ gaming store for $6.50 CAD - okay, never mind, I'll just download that sometime this weekend. Welp, so much for being gamed out...)


** Or, locally, on the second floor of Chapters Indigo at Broadway and Granville,  Golden Age Collectibles downtown on Granville, or The Comicshop on 4th Avenue in Kits - but that would have messed with my flow.


*** I see that they've opened a Storm Crow on Church Street in Toronto, the Storm Crow Manor.  My sincere congratulations to the owners - New York, you're next.
 

"The stars are ours."

"We creators are the engineers of possibility. And as this genre finally - however grudgingly - acknowledges that the dreams of the marginalized matter, and that ALL of us have a future, so will go the world. Soon, I hope."

N.K. Jemisin, 2018 Hugo Award for Best Novel acceptance speech

At the 76th Annual Worldcon on August 19th, the 2018 Hugo Award for Best Novel was presented to author N. K. Jemisin for Stone Sky, the third novel in her Broken Earth series, and the third novel in the series to win the Best Novel Hugo.  This makes her the only person to win the Best Novel Hugo three years in a row, and the only person to win for every book in a trilogy.

Her triumphant acceptance speech recognizes the barriers that she has had to overcome in order to stand at the podium. Unfortunately, not everyone has felt that she deserves to be recognized in this fashion. She has been insulted, harassed and dismissed, which makes her victory all the more laudable.

Her treatment reflects a larger problem in the science fiction community, which has been caught up in an unhappy conflict for the last few years.  It is a conflict which in all ways defies and denies the fundamental truths of the genre. 

The dispute is based on the contention of some writers and fans that too much of the science fiction being recognized with awards is receiving that recognition solely because of the race, sexuality or political convictions* of its creators rather than the quality of the writing**.  In the short-sighted view of these reactionaries, divided into the Sad and Rabid Puppies***, winners such as Jemisin are only winners because of liberal politics.

To protest this perceived inequity, for the past few years the Rabid Puppies has been attempting (with some degree of success) to subvert or ruin the Hugo Awards by gaming the voting process so as to load the list of nominees with their choices, some of which are deliberate jokes rather than valid nominees.

The rest of the Worldcon membership has rallied in opposition to this unfortunate strategy, and Jemisin's third victory is a milestone that marks their ongoing success. 

However, I'm puzzled and disappointed by the position taken by the Puppies in all their incarnations.  For me, one of the core lessons that science fiction has taught me is acceptance of diversity.

Over the years, I've read books where the hero was a six foot long alien centipede who was afraid of heights, books where Martians eat the bodies of their dead as a sign of respect and love, and books where an artificial intelligence the size of planets displays its penmanship by sending greeting cards.

As such, the question of race or sex is almost a joke - if you can empathize with an alien insect's acrophobia, how can stories with gay characters or people of colour be a challenge in terms of acceptance?

Similarly, it doesn't matter to me if the work is created by authors of colour, gay authors, gay authors of colour, or gay authors of colour who worship Satan, worship God, deny God, or believe in Bigfoot - it's all irrelevant other than as minor biographical information, like being from Seattle or having two cats.

The thing that does matter to me is that I share a wider view of the universe with these authors, something which is far more important to me than the colour of anyone's skin or the nature of their sexuality.  That wider view makes us members of the same family, a family that I am proud to belong to.

I discussed this whole situation with my wife Karli, and she made an observation about the Puppies that perfectly summarized the problem:  "They're afraid of the future."

What a sad, sad state of mind for a group of science fiction fans and authors.

- Sid

* Or d), all of the above.

** I haven't had the pleasure of reading any of Ms. Jemisin's work (although I certainly plan to) so in lieu of personal experience I looked at her resume, which turned out to be both extensive and impressive.  It's obvious that she has won her multiple awards by honing her craft, by working really really hard, and by being a talented writer - or, as she puts it, "Because I worked my ass off."

*** This innocuous sounding name comes from Sad Puppies founder Larry Correia, who said that the omission of his work from the Hugo ballots "made puppies sad".