Elizabeth Moon's Blog, page 52
January 14, 2011
Book Release, Title Time & other stuff
It's 67 days until the release of
Kings of the North
, the second volume in the new group of books that follow on from the Paksenarrion books and began last March with
Oath of Fealty
. That would be exciting enough for me (and I'll be increasingly jittery as that time draws near) but--as some of those TV infomercials say "But wait! There's more!"
The book after Kings of the North went in to my editor at the start of this year, with only a tentative title--some books title themselves easily, and others don't. Yesterday, my brilliant editor came up with a much better title, so now the third volume in this group will be Crisis of Vision . All things being equal (though they rarely are) it should be released in March of 2012, though it's not been given a release date yet. Stuff Can Happen.
Meanwhile, the fourth volume is already chugging along--I started on it "formally" this week, which means setting up the daily and weekly wordage goals again. So far this week I've slightly exceeded those goals. Writing to a word count goal isn't the only strategy for meeting deadlines, and does not work well for all writers, so it's not a rule...it's a strategy that works for me, and some others.
Those not familiar with the Paksenarrion books may wonder what these books are about. Briefly, The Deed of Paksenarrion (originally published in 3 mass-market volumes, now in an omnibus form) is the story of how a farm girl with dreams of glory became, in the end, a paladin who restored a missing heir to his throne. That's briefly. It's more complicated than that. The new group, called Paladin's Legacy, is the story of what happens after a paladin intervenes--how lives change. The former "bastard duke" is now a king in another country, two former cohort captains under that duke are now, respectively, a count and a duke...and so on. Transitions are tough. The repercussions of moving Kieri Phelan from the North Marches of Tsaia to the throne of Lyonya extend beyond the borders of those two kingdoms. The long story arc that runs through all the volumes makes this a group (in my definition) and not a series (which in my definition is comprised of near-standalone books that focus on the same characters. Mysteries with the same detective are a series--you can start anywhere because the mystery arc is complete in one--though a few become more about the detective than the mystery.)
For more about this story-universe, and descriptions of each volume so far (but not Crisis of Vision yet--there's more website updating to do...) visit the Paksworld website.
Writing very long (multi-volume) stories sounds like pure drudgery for some, ridiculous self-indulgence for others and just the way things are for another group. I'm in the last group. But I also think that every writer has both a natural speed of writing and a natural length of story. Some people write brilliant short stories but never write a brilliant novel--and vice versa. I find it easy (comparatively) to generate big, long, complicated stories. A short story takes me, on average, four or five times as long as the same number of words in a novel. A six-thousand-word chapter in a novel rides on the energy in the whole story...a short story has to generate that energy and then contain it in a much smaller compass. Window box v. forest. Some people are very, very good with houseplants and others are very, very good with a woodlot or open field. Not a bigger or smaller talent...just a different one.
The feel of a new book in a group, once I commits to it, reminds me of an eager horse at the starting line (I got to ride a racing Quarter Horse mare a few times as a kid. Lining her up at one end of a dirt road and turning her loose was incredible fun.) I can feel the story bouncing inside, eager to take off, and then--when I let it go--it takes off. By the way it takes off, I can now tell about how much trouble it's going to be down the road. (All my books give me trouble in mid-book; I used to panic about that, but now I know it's just a necessary part of writing--for me, anyway.) Crisis in Vision lived up to its eventual name--it had a difficult beginning and--partly due to family issues that required gaps in the writing--continued to give trouble off and on. It felt like a crisis time after time. Both Oath of Fealty and Kings of the North had rolled on with very little trouble, considering their length. It's too early to say for sure, but the new book feels like it wants to go straight on to the end. I'm sure it will throw up barricades at some point before it gets going again, but I'm hoping for less difficulty than with the previous. (Then again, on the family side things are not as chaotic--a serious illness--not mine--has been diagnosed and is being treated, and workloads have been shifted to accommodate that. Another reason to start serious work on the newest one before even hearing back from agent or editor on the one just turned in.)
It does impinge on my internet time, though, and it's time to turn off the browser and mail client and get to work.
The book after Kings of the North went in to my editor at the start of this year, with only a tentative title--some books title themselves easily, and others don't. Yesterday, my brilliant editor came up with a much better title, so now the third volume in this group will be Crisis of Vision . All things being equal (though they rarely are) it should be released in March of 2012, though it's not been given a release date yet. Stuff Can Happen.
Meanwhile, the fourth volume is already chugging along--I started on it "formally" this week, which means setting up the daily and weekly wordage goals again. So far this week I've slightly exceeded those goals. Writing to a word count goal isn't the only strategy for meeting deadlines, and does not work well for all writers, so it's not a rule...it's a strategy that works for me, and some others.
Those not familiar with the Paksenarrion books may wonder what these books are about. Briefly, The Deed of Paksenarrion (originally published in 3 mass-market volumes, now in an omnibus form) is the story of how a farm girl with dreams of glory became, in the end, a paladin who restored a missing heir to his throne. That's briefly. It's more complicated than that. The new group, called Paladin's Legacy, is the story of what happens after a paladin intervenes--how lives change. The former "bastard duke" is now a king in another country, two former cohort captains under that duke are now, respectively, a count and a duke...and so on. Transitions are tough. The repercussions of moving Kieri Phelan from the North Marches of Tsaia to the throne of Lyonya extend beyond the borders of those two kingdoms. The long story arc that runs through all the volumes makes this a group (in my definition) and not a series (which in my definition is comprised of near-standalone books that focus on the same characters. Mysteries with the same detective are a series--you can start anywhere because the mystery arc is complete in one--though a few become more about the detective than the mystery.)
For more about this story-universe, and descriptions of each volume so far (but not Crisis of Vision yet--there's more website updating to do...) visit the Paksworld website.
Writing very long (multi-volume) stories sounds like pure drudgery for some, ridiculous self-indulgence for others and just the way things are for another group. I'm in the last group. But I also think that every writer has both a natural speed of writing and a natural length of story. Some people write brilliant short stories but never write a brilliant novel--and vice versa. I find it easy (comparatively) to generate big, long, complicated stories. A short story takes me, on average, four or five times as long as the same number of words in a novel. A six-thousand-word chapter in a novel rides on the energy in the whole story...a short story has to generate that energy and then contain it in a much smaller compass. Window box v. forest. Some people are very, very good with houseplants and others are very, very good with a woodlot or open field. Not a bigger or smaller talent...just a different one.
The feel of a new book in a group, once I commits to it, reminds me of an eager horse at the starting line (I got to ride a racing Quarter Horse mare a few times as a kid. Lining her up at one end of a dirt road and turning her loose was incredible fun.) I can feel the story bouncing inside, eager to take off, and then--when I let it go--it takes off. By the way it takes off, I can now tell about how much trouble it's going to be down the road. (All my books give me trouble in mid-book; I used to panic about that, but now I know it's just a necessary part of writing--for me, anyway.) Crisis in Vision lived up to its eventual name--it had a difficult beginning and--partly due to family issues that required gaps in the writing--continued to give trouble off and on. It felt like a crisis time after time. Both Oath of Fealty and Kings of the North had rolled on with very little trouble, considering their length. It's too early to say for sure, but the new book feels like it wants to go straight on to the end. I'm sure it will throw up barricades at some point before it gets going again, but I'm hoping for less difficulty than with the previous. (Then again, on the family side things are not as chaotic--a serious illness--not mine--has been diagnosed and is being treated, and workloads have been shifted to accommodate that. Another reason to start serious work on the newest one before even hearing back from agent or editor on the one just turned in.)
It does impinge on my internet time, though, and it's time to turn off the browser and mail client and get to work.
From Twitter 01-13-2011
00:01:08: RT @NatureNews: Conservation biology: The end of the wild http://ff.im/-wvK2Q
00:05:35: RT @NatureMedicine: Playing with RNA has never been this much fun http://ff.im/-wvFmQ
00:05:42: RT @NatureNews: People prove impervious to anxiety from genetic tests http://ff.im/-wvFDr
00:06:40: Good choir practice tonight--and got my score for Bach St. John Passion. Big fat blue thing. Lots & lots of notes. Eeep!
10:44:23: Half of day's words done, after late start. Missed lot of sleep last night, but so what. #writing
11:25:30: New post on http://www.paksworld.com/blog/ "We Have Title" (this is for next year's book.)
12:45:27: RT @BL_Owens: I nominate @NatureNews for a Shorty Award in #science because I can't believe we haven't been nominated yet! http://bit.ly ...
12:47:59: First look into Bach score, first chorus...32 sixteenth notes on one syllable. How fast are we taking this? Where can we breathe?
14:04:12: Wordage goal: 2000. Accomplished 2738. Sometimes a scene wants to be finished. #writing
15:19:11: RT @NASA: Several organizations, including NASA, track global temperature changes. How well do their numbers agree? http://go.usa.gov/rsn
19:58:00: RT @BacklisteBooks: "EU...must take more responsibility for the digitisation of Europe's cultural heritage to avoid a 'digital Dark Age' ...
19:58:11: RT @BacklisteBooks: Exclusive: The New York Times iPad App Nearing 1.5 Million Downloads http://bit.ly/gMdpHE
19:58:40: RT @BacklisteBooks: #Ebook Pricing vs. Revenue (Or why we're evil geniuses for pricing our #ebooks at $2.99! ) http://bit.ly/gU229H #kindle
19:58:52: RT @NASA: [Image] WISE view of two companion galaxies: one a tranquil spiral, the other blazing with star formation http://go.nasa.gov/i ...
19:59:11: RT @BacklisteBooks: The Backlist eBook Store--One-stop shopping for #Kindle editions of out-of-print books by bestselling authors http:/ ...
20:01:03: Long, long, LONG nap after finishing daily words because of only 4 hrs sleep last night. Eyes don't burn anymore. Wow.
20:48:29: RT @innaj: RT @KateMessner: Revising is like knitting a sweater. Almost perfect...but then you tug a tiny string & cause entire sleeve t ...
21:13:21: Going through the score to find all the places with 32 16th notes in a row will only terrify me, right? Just one place already did.
Tweets copied by twittinesis.com
January 13, 2011
From Twitter 01-12-2011
08:24:27: Pond frozen over. A solid lid of clouds replaces yesterday's clear skies & sun.
09:10:00: Temp 20F this morning. Was below freezing by 6 pm, so that's more than 12 hours, which means "pipe-watching."
09:23:25: Had a busted pipe last year, trying to avoid this year (well, tried last year, too. But external piping is tough to protect.
09:36:40: Typing "batched" instead of "bathed" gives a whole new flavor to that scene...like pickle juice on ice cream. #writing
10:01:23: Finished day's words--got head start last night. #writing
10:02:04: Off to city for lunch w/ friends. R- home minding the pipes & beasties.
23:57:45: RT @booksandcorsets: Illegal ebook downloads = authors selling & writing fewer books. Here's the real life example: http://bit.ly/hxCHSK ...
23:57:54: RT @BacklisteBooks: Snow is good for on-line# book sales, bad for in-store retail http://bit.ly/ehvyzc #ebooks #ebook #kindle
23:57:59: RT @BacklisteBooks: Join the Backlist #eBooks mailing list for news about sales and other special events! http://bit.ly/hFomcj
23:59:20: RT @NatureNews: Corruption kills: 83% of deaths from earthquake building collapse over past 30 years in corrupt countries. (sub req'd) h ...
Tweets copied by twittinesis.com
January 12, 2011
From Twitter 01-11-2011
14:05:51: RT @NatureNews: Anatomy of a brain injury http://ff.im/-wutNK
14:06:10: RT @NASA: [News] Planck Mission Peels Back Layers Of The Universe: The Planck mission released a new data catalogue T... http://go.nasa. ...
14:06:33: RT @NASA_EO: NASA Image Shows La Niña-Caused Woes Down Under [news] http://tinyurl.com/4qpcbd5 #NASA
14:07:09: RT @Alyssa_Milano: The Earth's population will reach 7 billion people in 2011☛
http://on.natgeo.com/ickx8L #video /via @NatGeoSociety
14:23:11: RT @KSmithSF: Mental illness expert: Yes, ask whether political climate was a trigger for shooter http://t.co/Vkfjfx9
14:23:18: RT @KSmithSF: "On Extreme Right And Left" Ctd - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan http://t.co/yEP98n3 via @AddThis
15:40:48: Day's words done in spite of break in middle to go designate limbs to be trimmed from various trees. #writing
15:41:47: Might do another session tonight to prepare for tomorrow when will be away from home much of day for other chores. #writing
20:53:23: RT @JodyLynnNye: Just finished recording a podcast for The Functional Nerds (www.functionalnerds.com). Great fun! WB posted on their sit ...
20:53:38: RT @robinmckinley: Indeed. RT @AdviceToWriters: Never judge a book by its movie. J. W. EAGAN
Tweets copied by twittinesis.com
January 11, 2011
From Twitter 01-10-2011
00:31:04: RT @NatureNews: The end for small glaciers http://ff.im/-wrWKg
00:35:18: RT @KSmithSF: So cool if true! RT @io9: Birds might actually be using quantum mechanics to find their way through the skies http://io9.c ...
09:02:59: Palin's "Don't retreat--instead, RELOAD!" comment last year, the day after the map went live, makes the "surveyor's mark" excuse extra lame.
09:06:55: "On book" again, starting the new one. Cuts into my internet time, but--only way to write a book is to shut up and write. #writing
10:14:33: RT @NatureNews: Great @NatureMedicine news feature on transgenic cattle possibly wiping out African sleeping sickness http://ff.im/-wsOMe
12:47:28: Day's required words done--earlier than usual. The usual reluctance to start and temptations to quit here and there. #writing
19:18:40: RT @NASA_EO: Sediment Transforms Lake Michigan [image] http://tinyurl.com/4ddhvuk #NASA
19:18:57: RT @NASA: NASA's Fermi catches thunderstorms on Earth hurling antimatter into space http://go.nasa.gov/fQnBqn
19:19:18: RT @patinagle: RT @KristineRusch #Free #Fiction Monday! Today's story, "Flower Fairies" http://bit.ly/h1R3bW
19:19:37: RT @NASA: Check out this new Hubble image of a true space oddity: a ghostly green streamer of gas http://go.nasa.gov/gkxBkK #aas217
22:38:36: RT @BacklisteBooks: Welcome to JANA DELEON -- Humorous romantic mysteries set deep in the bayous of Louisiana.
22:38:42: RT @BacklisteBooks: Welcome to GERALD M. WEINBERG -- I write fact and fiction about how people cope with and respond to technology.
22:38:47: RT @BacklisteBooks: Welcome to BRENDA HIATT -- Romantic historical adventure
22:38:54: RT @BacklisteBooks: Welcome to JUDY ALTER -- Award-winning author Judy Alter writes fiction with a special interest in women of the Amer ...
22:41:04: So even a GOP Congressman knows his colleagues are liars...
http://tinyurl.com/5sk63r7 Or he's just ignorant of the word's meaning.
Tweets copied by twittinesis.com
January 10, 2011
From Twitter 01-09-2011
07:48:37: RT @LAGilman: Accountability does not negate freedom of speech. Likewise, freedom of speech does not negate accountability.
08:05:49: RT @Karnythia: Palin & others are using public platforms to advocate violence based on politics. Why is that only terrorism when brown ...
Tweets copied by twittinesis.com
January 9, 2011
From Twitter 01-08-2011
07:42:43: RT @funkyfairy22: Please help promote One Month Before Heartbreak and support #disabled people in the UK fight the #UKcuts http://bit.ly ...
07:48:39: RT @MarkCN: New blog post - http://bit.ly/fdcTQf - A Question for Ebook Buyers
15:09:06: Huffington Post on Sarah Palin's remarks on Rep. Giffords shooting, w/Palin's "targeting" map: http://tinyurl.com/3y5alym
15:10:10: Planting onions, peas, carrots, radishes before predicted rain. R- hauling dirt up to new beds almost as fast as I can plant.
18:30:50: RT @bethmeacham: Political assassination is terrorism by definition. And this is political assassination. #giffords
23:07:31: New post up on http://www.paksworld.com/blog/ Starting the next book.
Tweets copied by twittinesis.com
January 8, 2011
Gabrielle Giffords
The intentional shooting of Gabrielle Giffords at a meeting with her constituents--and the deaths and injuries of others, including a federal judge--is causing an interesting split in reactions. Mine, I'll get to in a moment. There's a definite interest in presenting this as the work of (as someone on another venue is insisting) "just a random nutter."
She was shot through the head (a through-and-through brain injury) at close range by one Jared Loughner (or Laughner--it's been reported with both spellings) a young man who now, after the fact, is being described as the usual "loner" "different" etc. What he was really, we don't know yet. "Random," however, seems the wrong adjective for someone who deliberately targets a politician and comes in close for the kill--and then also shoots anyone standing near her.
It's amazing she's alive. She's had brain surgery, and she's in intensive care, and the surgeons are talking about recovery. They do not, however, mean complete return to what she was before. Because that is not possible with a through-and-through brain injury with hot lead. Her brain has had a hole ripped in it. It's had heat (bullets coming out of a barrel placed close to the target are not cool items--it's called hot lead for a reason) applied to it. It's had bits of bone stabbed into it. The surgeons will have removed the bone bits they could, and they will have sewn up the ripped arteries, and they will have done what they can for the exit wound damage, which is larger than the entrance wound...but suffice to say that Congresswoman Giffords is not going to take her seat in Congress any time soon, except perhaps to show a brave face. If complications don't set in; if nothing more goes wrong. It's still likely that she could die--
Traumatic brain injury is no different in a civilian brain than a military brain. Anyone with an intact brain should have had some exposure (personally or through TV programs) to the effects of the myriad TBIs coming out of the war zones in the past 7 years. The few people who survive a through-and-through (which is, however, better than when the bullet bounces around inside the skull tearing more holes) are permanently damaged...permanently. They go into long-term rehab programs where they try to learn work-arounds for whatever part of the brain was destroyed. Until the swelling in her brain goes down (and I'm reasonably sure her surgeons are familiar with the latest techniques for handling that, something developed for military personnel in this latest war) it's impossible to know exactly what she'll lose. The surgeons--who have seen the actual damage--will have some guesses, based on many previous examples of brain damage and the results and what they saw in her head. They say she's responding to commands--which means that she's not in a coma--but doesn't mean she's OK. She's not OK.
I emphasize this, because there are already people saying "Oh, she's still alive and the surgeons say they expect her to recover, so she'll be OK." No. I don't know what calibre weapon the shooter used, but all calibre does is change the amount of damage, not the nature of it. I saw gunshot wounds to the head when I was a paramedic. Some were alive when we got them to the hospital. None survived. I've seen (in person and on television shows about wounded vets) people with the long-term results of traumatic brain injury. They're not what they were--they're not WHO they were, because who we are--our self-image of ourselves--is generated in the brain.
I suggest that you all sit back and take your index finger and place it at any point on your head...and imagine punching a hole all the way through. Imagine the impact...the hair and torn skin and shattered bone being driven into the soft tissue of the brain itself, carrying all the bacteria that were on the hair and skin into that previously sterile environment...the bits of bone slicing what the bullet doesn't, arteries and veins bursting, blood pouring out into the space behind the bullet, the shock waves of the impact propagating through the brain. Imagine the bullet's swift and destructive passage, plowing through structures that give us sight, hearing, the senses of smell and taste and touch, emotional stability, cognition in all its complexity--the ability to recognize faces, tunes, words we hear, letters on a page--sensory integration, motor control for movement, the sense of balance, control of sphincters, all integrated, in the adult brain, and working together...but now ripped asunder. Would you be you, if you lost the memory of ten years of your life? If your lover's touch felt like barbed wire and not gentle fingers? If you could not write your name?
She may be paralyzed, partly or completely. She may be unable to speak--or she may speak, but incoherently. She may not recognize the faces of her loved ones or her colleagues. She may be unable to taste what she eats, or know a hot surface from a cold one. The muscles of her face--or one side of it--may droop, pulling her mouth awry. She may be unable to smell the roses, or anything else. She may be blind, or she may have partial sight, or be unable to tell a hawk from a handsaw. She may lose her hard-won knowledge; she may lose her equally hard-won emotional control.
My reaction, already criticized as hasty, is that Sarah Palin and her infamous map of Democratic Congresspersons to be targeted in the 2010 election--a map that shows their states and homes with little cross-hairs, the view through a rifle scope--makes "random nutter" pretty damned unlikely. Nutter, maybe. "Opinionated" (one person's comment) nutter, maybe. But opinionated nutters are aimed at their targets by such things. It was irresponsible at best to suggest that political opponents were targets for firearms. It was especially irresponsible to do so in the continuing climate of controversy over firearms--of which Palin is a staunch advocate. The link between crosshairs and Palin's stance on firearms is solid enough that other than nutters could see it--and have, by their comments through the months on right-wing talk shows and TV channels. This is why, whatever is learned about the shooter, I consider this a political assassination, and consider it tied to Palin's--and the Tea Party's--"joking" references to shooting, targeting, etc. their "enemy."
"Joking" about shooting people gets you in trouble with law enforcement, if you're not in the right party at the right level. If Palin's map were not a political ad--if it were a hand-drawn map, and one of the people listed were found dead--and most especially if Palin were poor, brown, black, or an immigrant--she'd be in police custody right now and her house would be torn up looking for evidence, as Loughner's is. She'd be considered an accessory to the crime. But she's the darling of her party, she's perky and cute and says "gosh"...she's got money and power behind her, so she'll be able to slide away from this. She won't be investigated, or arrested, unless (and I don't think even Palin is stupid enough for this) she hired the man. It will be explained that he is the nutter, he's responsible for his own acts, she certainly didn't intend to have cross-hairs mistaken for, like, you know, real weapons. Wink-wink, nudge-nudge...because she knows perfectly well she's the darling of the nutter gun enthusiasts as well as the sane ones.
But remember it, the next time she's on TV as an important person, when her cute little nose wrinkles up in that cute little way and she looks perky and energetic and just so gosh darn wholesome, like a puppy...this is a woman who thought putting crosshairs on duly elected Congresspersons was a great idea. Her political action committee. Her signature. This is a woman who's made shooting gestures in the context of a campaign. She has that little respect for law and order and the rights of others to disagree with her.
She should never be elected to any office of responsibility, ever. She has no judgment. (And a lack of other qualifications, but the lack of judgment is the one at issue here.)
(Oh, you want to see the map--you managed to miss it last year?![[info]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380442897i/1319734.gif)
cdozo
has it up on her LJ.)
And you're wondering if I'm a wimpy hunter-hating gun-hating knee-jerk liberal....no, though I do know where to put that knee in some circumstances. I own firearms. I use firearms. Get over it. This is not about your precious Second-Amendment rights, but about a political assassination and a likely trigger for it.
She was shot through the head (a through-and-through brain injury) at close range by one Jared Loughner (or Laughner--it's been reported with both spellings) a young man who now, after the fact, is being described as the usual "loner" "different" etc. What he was really, we don't know yet. "Random," however, seems the wrong adjective for someone who deliberately targets a politician and comes in close for the kill--and then also shoots anyone standing near her.
It's amazing she's alive. She's had brain surgery, and she's in intensive care, and the surgeons are talking about recovery. They do not, however, mean complete return to what she was before. Because that is not possible with a through-and-through brain injury with hot lead. Her brain has had a hole ripped in it. It's had heat (bullets coming out of a barrel placed close to the target are not cool items--it's called hot lead for a reason) applied to it. It's had bits of bone stabbed into it. The surgeons will have removed the bone bits they could, and they will have sewn up the ripped arteries, and they will have done what they can for the exit wound damage, which is larger than the entrance wound...but suffice to say that Congresswoman Giffords is not going to take her seat in Congress any time soon, except perhaps to show a brave face. If complications don't set in; if nothing more goes wrong. It's still likely that she could die--
Traumatic brain injury is no different in a civilian brain than a military brain. Anyone with an intact brain should have had some exposure (personally or through TV programs) to the effects of the myriad TBIs coming out of the war zones in the past 7 years. The few people who survive a through-and-through (which is, however, better than when the bullet bounces around inside the skull tearing more holes) are permanently damaged...permanently. They go into long-term rehab programs where they try to learn work-arounds for whatever part of the brain was destroyed. Until the swelling in her brain goes down (and I'm reasonably sure her surgeons are familiar with the latest techniques for handling that, something developed for military personnel in this latest war) it's impossible to know exactly what she'll lose. The surgeons--who have seen the actual damage--will have some guesses, based on many previous examples of brain damage and the results and what they saw in her head. They say she's responding to commands--which means that she's not in a coma--but doesn't mean she's OK. She's not OK.
I emphasize this, because there are already people saying "Oh, she's still alive and the surgeons say they expect her to recover, so she'll be OK." No. I don't know what calibre weapon the shooter used, but all calibre does is change the amount of damage, not the nature of it. I saw gunshot wounds to the head when I was a paramedic. Some were alive when we got them to the hospital. None survived. I've seen (in person and on television shows about wounded vets) people with the long-term results of traumatic brain injury. They're not what they were--they're not WHO they were, because who we are--our self-image of ourselves--is generated in the brain.
I suggest that you all sit back and take your index finger and place it at any point on your head...and imagine punching a hole all the way through. Imagine the impact...the hair and torn skin and shattered bone being driven into the soft tissue of the brain itself, carrying all the bacteria that were on the hair and skin into that previously sterile environment...the bits of bone slicing what the bullet doesn't, arteries and veins bursting, blood pouring out into the space behind the bullet, the shock waves of the impact propagating through the brain. Imagine the bullet's swift and destructive passage, plowing through structures that give us sight, hearing, the senses of smell and taste and touch, emotional stability, cognition in all its complexity--the ability to recognize faces, tunes, words we hear, letters on a page--sensory integration, motor control for movement, the sense of balance, control of sphincters, all integrated, in the adult brain, and working together...but now ripped asunder. Would you be you, if you lost the memory of ten years of your life? If your lover's touch felt like barbed wire and not gentle fingers? If you could not write your name?
She may be paralyzed, partly or completely. She may be unable to speak--or she may speak, but incoherently. She may not recognize the faces of her loved ones or her colleagues. She may be unable to taste what she eats, or know a hot surface from a cold one. The muscles of her face--or one side of it--may droop, pulling her mouth awry. She may be unable to smell the roses, or anything else. She may be blind, or she may have partial sight, or be unable to tell a hawk from a handsaw. She may lose her hard-won knowledge; she may lose her equally hard-won emotional control.
My reaction, already criticized as hasty, is that Sarah Palin and her infamous map of Democratic Congresspersons to be targeted in the 2010 election--a map that shows their states and homes with little cross-hairs, the view through a rifle scope--makes "random nutter" pretty damned unlikely. Nutter, maybe. "Opinionated" (one person's comment) nutter, maybe. But opinionated nutters are aimed at their targets by such things. It was irresponsible at best to suggest that political opponents were targets for firearms. It was especially irresponsible to do so in the continuing climate of controversy over firearms--of which Palin is a staunch advocate. The link between crosshairs and Palin's stance on firearms is solid enough that other than nutters could see it--and have, by their comments through the months on right-wing talk shows and TV channels. This is why, whatever is learned about the shooter, I consider this a political assassination, and consider it tied to Palin's--and the Tea Party's--"joking" references to shooting, targeting, etc. their "enemy."
"Joking" about shooting people gets you in trouble with law enforcement, if you're not in the right party at the right level. If Palin's map were not a political ad--if it were a hand-drawn map, and one of the people listed were found dead--and most especially if Palin were poor, brown, black, or an immigrant--she'd be in police custody right now and her house would be torn up looking for evidence, as Loughner's is. She'd be considered an accessory to the crime. But she's the darling of her party, she's perky and cute and says "gosh"...she's got money and power behind her, so she'll be able to slide away from this. She won't be investigated, or arrested, unless (and I don't think even Palin is stupid enough for this) she hired the man. It will be explained that he is the nutter, he's responsible for his own acts, she certainly didn't intend to have cross-hairs mistaken for, like, you know, real weapons. Wink-wink, nudge-nudge...because she knows perfectly well she's the darling of the nutter gun enthusiasts as well as the sane ones.
But remember it, the next time she's on TV as an important person, when her cute little nose wrinkles up in that cute little way and she looks perky and energetic and just so gosh darn wholesome, like a puppy...this is a woman who thought putting crosshairs on duly elected Congresspersons was a great idea. Her political action committee. Her signature. This is a woman who's made shooting gestures in the context of a campaign. She has that little respect for law and order and the rights of others to disagree with her.
She should never be elected to any office of responsibility, ever. She has no judgment. (And a lack of other qualifications, but the lack of judgment is the one at issue here.)
(Oh, you want to see the map--you managed to miss it last year?
cdozo
has it up on her LJ.)And you're wondering if I'm a wimpy hunter-hating gun-hating knee-jerk liberal....no, though I do know where to put that knee in some circumstances. I own firearms. I use firearms. Get over it. This is not about your precious Second-Amendment rights, but about a political assassination and a likely trigger for it.
From Twitter 01-07-2011
08:42:44: RT @patinagle: Pati Nagle Sample from HEART OF THE EXILED now up at aelven.com: http://aelven.com/heart-sample-southfaeld.html
08:56:52: RT @NatureNews: Former Naturist @zzgavin on why social software for scientists is hard to do via (@andrewspong) http://bit.ly/h6bQD2
08:57:04: RT @Nnedi: Removing the word "nigger" from Huck Finn is a grave mistake. We ALL know what happens when we forget the past.
09:15:00: Juniper needles from the (now-in-gully) juniper tree all over the floor--and prickly. Should vacuum. Maybe someone else will?
09:43:57: RT @patinagle: RT @pimpmynovel: Guest Post: Is "Kindling" for You? http://bit.ly/ebUUbz
23:27:16: RT @robinmckinley: This is so DEPRESSING RT @AdviceToWriters: Michiko Kakutani on the bleeping of "Huckleberry Finn": http://nyti.ms/hbzW5q
23:27:19: RT @robinmckinley: And did you see this yesterday? RT @HornBook This Huck Finn thing happened before: http://bit.ly/gj5zmD
Tweets copied by twittinesis.com
January 7, 2011
From Twitter 01-06-2011
11:15:40: RT @NatureNews: Food prices hit record high http://bit.ly/gr71qB
11:16:26: RT @NatureNews: Wakefield's MMR work takes another kicking http://bit.ly/gn5NdE
Tweets copied by twittinesis.com
Elizabeth Moon's Blog
- Elizabeth Moon's profile
- 2621 followers
Elizabeth Moon isn't a Goodreads Author
(yet),
but they
do have a blog,
so here are some recent posts imported from
their feed.
