Michael Swanwick's Blog, page 211

Scribbledehobbledehoyden: The Magpie's Eye: Page 179

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Darkness to Darkness:
Does everybody here know what this is?  It's quite possible some don't.  Back in the day, children, we took snapshots of Mastodons and giant sloths using film cameras and then nailed the film (along with a check) to the processing lab.  Then, mere weeks later, back they came in the form of photographs.  And we thought this was an impressive piece of technology!  Honestly.  We did.

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The Last Mystery

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For almost thirty years, linoleum tiles have appeared in the streets of Philadelphia, reading:


TOYNBEE IDEAIN MOVIE 2001RESURRECT DEADON PLANET JUPITER
Anybody seeing them had to wonder what they meant and who was behind them.  It was one of those small mysteries you always wondered about and knew that nobody would ever resolve for you.

Until now.

I saw Resurrect Dead, Jon Foy's documentary of gentle obsession yesterday.  It details the dogged, decade-long investigation of three young men to get to the root of this admittedly small mystery.  And it was a hoot and a delight.

Two things struck me about the movie:  First, that although Foy probably doesn't realize it, the movie is all about fandoms.  The community that forms around the mystery of the Toynbee tiles is one -- self-organizing, self-funding, and perfectly serious about a subject most other people don't give a second thought to.  And the material that ultimately solves the mystery comes from the Citizens Band community, another fandom which, though they're way skeptical about the whole project, recognize the obsession as being essentially benign.

And second, that while most of the movie is simply straightforward harmless fun, the ending, when the investigators decide they have learned enough and draw away from going any further, was both moving and profound.  It touches on the limits of understanding and the limits that morality place upon our actions.  So, ultimately, Resurrect Dead speaks to our times.

It also solves the last mystery left in an increasingly understood world.

Until the next mystery, of course.


And I saw a play . . .

It's over now, but Lady M. was one fabulous piece of theater.  It had its weaknesses, as any work that merges one of Shakespeare's best plays with added material must -- the new dialogue rarely lives up to Will's best.  But in the title role of Lady MacBeth, Catharine Slusar was just flat-out wonderful. I'd love to see her reprise the role in MacBeth .  But I'd be equally happy to see her in Lady M. again.

And I was mini-interviewed . . .

You can find a mini-interview of me (done as part of the publicity for my appearance last Saturday at The Spiral Bookcase) over at WHYY's online zine newsworks.  Reporter Jimmy Viola made it easy for me by doing his research first and then asking interesting questions.  You'd be amazed how rare that is.

You can find the interview here.

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Scribbledehobbledehoyden: The Magpie's Eye: Page 178

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Another collage, this one of images from Goya's Los Caprichos, and, I think, a Chris Van Allsburg book.   Not a very accomplished collage, but how far wrong can you go when the ingredients are that good.

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The Cyberpunk-Humanist Wars

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Whoops!  I put this post together to throw online yesterday, while I was on the road, and failed to do so. Oh well.  I'll just what I had planned for today on Monday.

Meanwhile . . . I've posted another excerpt of my conversation with James Patrick Kelly over on YouTube.  This one deals with "The Cyberpunk-Humanist Wars."  That's it up above.

Enjoy.


And just to keep things from getting too sercon . . .

("Sercon," incidentally, is old fannish slang for "serious and constructive" -- usually used to imply that the situation could use a bit more frivolity.)

Here's a video from maybe sixty years ago, predicting what fashions would be like in the year 2000.  It's easy to make fun of how ludicrously wrong most of their guesses were.  What's interesting is what they got right:  the mesh blouse, the woman wearing a version of slacks rather than skirts, and the portable telephone.  It's quite a bit bigger than the one I carry around today -- but a lot smaller than the first mobile phones were.

Enjoy this one as well.





And another quick reminder . . .

Despite the rain, I'm hoping for a good turnout at The Spiral Bookcase this Saturday.  The reading/signing/schmoozing is scheduled for three to five p.m.  I think it'll be fun.

If you're in the area, why not drop by and say hi?


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Scribbledehobbledehoyden: The Magpie's Eye: Page 177

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I'm not going to bother transcribing this.  It's just a list of Christmas presents we'd bought for family and friends.  This would have been compiled at the end of the previous year.

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Scribbledehobbledehoyden: The Magpie's Eye: Page 176

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1.  "One Sentence Story:  One: ______________"
I am a misshapen thing, perhaps, all yearning and embarrassed silence, but here I am nevertheless, as strong as an ox, as smart as the next man, and waiting for you, who said such terrible things about me, in your closet.

2.

The day that Santa died, there were riots in Djakarta, the Premiere of Canada called for calm, and all of China (where all his toys were made) fell into mourning; but Gideon Elf, his designated successor,

This would be the original, of which yesterday's version was the successor.

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Dragonstairs Press is Off and Running!

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Dragonstairs Press (owned and operated by Marianne Porter) is now offering its first publications for sale.  At the moment, five items are available for purchase:  Four of them are the mini-chapbook adventures of Darger & Surplus which were published in a limited edition of100 signed-and-numbered copies each, most of which I gave away as promotions for my novel Dancing With Bears over the past four months.  There's also the chapbook reprint of A Midwinter's Tale , issued in an edition of approximately fifty, most of which were sent to friends as Christmas cards.

Part of Dragonstairs' business plan is to start small and very limited, so I don't think the remaining copies will last long.

But Marianne has bigger plans on the horizon!  Working with talented local artist Adam Cusack, she's currently putting together Sam the Asteroid:  One Swell Children's Story.   The working blurb for which is:

Black Humor For Small Children!
I wrote this story for my son Sean over a quarter-century ago and read it to him while he was sitting on my knee.  At the end, he laughed and laughed.  So the humor is appropriate for at least one child.

You can find the Dragonstairs Press website here.


And while I'm away . . .

I'm on the road again!  But I'll be back in time for my Saturday appearance at The Spiral Bookcase, 110 Cotton Street, Philadelphia, just off of Main Street in Manayunk.  Three to five p.m.  It ought to be great fun.

So if you have the opportunity to miss it . . . by all means don't.


Above:  A sample page from Sam the Asteroid.  Pretty cool, eh?

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Scribbledehobbledehoyden: The Magpie's Eye: Page 175

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The day Santa died, there were riots in Djakarta and Khartoum, the Premiere of Cambodia called for calm, and all of China, where the great bulk of his toys were made, fell into mourning; but Gideon Elf, his surrogate and successor, sent a reassuring message.

Another story I decided not to write.  Nobody likes to think about it, but the Big Guy Up North can't possibly last forever.  We should be making preparations now for how to deal with that sad event.


That's not a bad likeness of Gideon Elf.


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The Flaming Mechanical Octopus of Truth

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What would contemporary art look like if there were no grand tradition, no art schools and universities, no peer-reviewed journals and experts and collectors and critical papers?  With no one to tell you whether you'd gotten it right or wrong?  With nothing but the artist, the art, and the viewer?

Probably it would look a lot like this.


And don't forget . . .

I'll be making an appearance/reading/signing at The Spiral Bookcase in Manayunk this Saturday.  I expect to have a good time.  And it would be a great opportunity for you to discover a terrific new bookstore.

Because, let's face it, you don't own enough books.






Above:  A clip made when Duane Flatmo was building his wonderful Pulpo Mecanico.  Don't you desperately want the small, hand-cranked version?

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Scribbledehobbledehoyden: The Magpie's Eye: Page 174

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Basically, things to do:

versiontracker.com

Small dog for Ms. Software
[Norton}

Mac Mall or PC Mall

Xerox SFWA Directory for Kyle

That would have been to help Kyle Cassidy contact specific writers for his Where I Write project.

Gargar photograph


Our local nickname for Gardner Dozois there, derived from a story one of his friends wrote which featured him as Gargar the Barbarian.  I am not making this up.

URL Chowhound to Tom

And then some computer peripheral info.


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