Sarah A. Hoyt's Blog, page 390

Tribal wars

*Guys, sorry this is so late. If it’s not been obvious from hints, I’ve been having some medical issues, one of which has gone nuclear these last three days, preventing my sleeping and interfering with my thinking. It took me two hours to write this post. And yes, help has been called for, there’s a medical appointment on Monday which was the fastest it could be managed, and there might be a pain prescription called in. Anyway, some stuff I thought of over the mess yesterday.*

Every time I thi...

Je Suis Charlie

Here I was, trying to make this blog less political.

Not because I’m afraid to be political, and I intended to continue to say things that need to be said, but because I have said most of what I want to say. As in, I don’t want to force topics. If a political/social topic presents I will write, but for the rest, I thought, I’ll write about writing, and home and kids, and— And resume the free chapters, and post more about writing and literature, because that is as important to me as politics an...

Live By The Pop Culture

I was recently struck by this meme going around. You know how about Paul McCartney doing the surprise song with Kanye West, and West’s fans saying stuff like “I love it when he discovers unknowns” and “McCartney will have a career now.”

A lot of people a little older than I, and even my generation and a little younger were in shock over this.

… I don’t know why… I don’t know why, because what it brought to mind was two things:

My brother’s shocked gasp when my kids – then eight and thirteen – as...

Honey, they shrank the science fiction! — a blast from the past post 8/2011

Honey, they shrank the science fiction! — a blast from the past post 8/2011

*Not only was I — at this time — still trying to be in the political closet, I THOUGHT I was succeeding. (Shakes head.)*

As we all know the ticket to fame, fortune and er… whatever it is we get from writing is to write fantasy. At least I was told as far back as the early nineties that science fiction didn’t sell. As well as being told as soon as I broke in that ladies wrote fantasy. (No use telling them I wasn’t a lady...

Of Cats, Characters and Compassion

The current herd of cats in the Hoyt household consists of four feline masters:

Miranda, 14 year old Cornish Rex Tortoise shell. We acquired her with the proceeds of my first sale. You see, I had looked at our previous clowder (another four, which are now in urns on the mantelpiece. Sometimes it worries me that people will look at it and think we’re crazed cat killers.) and I thought they were all getting oldish (about 12 to 14) and I thought “if we don’t get a kitten, in the next four years a...

Soundtracks- Alma Boykin

Soundtracks- Alma Boykin

So, a week or so ago the usual crowd got to batting ideas back and forth (before they ended up under the deep-freeze, as usual. The ideas, that is) and started talking about movie soundtracks as a gateway to classical music for the younger generation, much as certain films and books can be on-ramps to sci-fi and fantasy. Growing up steeped in classical, Boroque, and folk music, and Bugs Bunny, I tend to take for granted people meeting symphonic music from an early age,...

Unraveling The Narrative

It was 1993 and Clinton was making us prosperous and balancing the budget, and equality and amity flowed throughout the land. We were glad the “me decade” was well in the past. Everyone was altruistic and full of care for the poor. And weren’t we lucky that Reagan had not nefariously caused WWIII.

We know this because if you pick up practically any movie or book from the decade, this will be beaten home with a jack hammer.

I have actually howled with laughter while reading a book published in t...

Popping Intellectual Zits

So this week, while commenting on Mad Genius Club, I realized something odd about this ideological fight we’re engaged in: It’s largely one sided. I mean, we have lately bestirred ourselves to respond, but only because we realized utter silence and ignoring them has lost us a lot of ground.

However, even now we engage half heartedly.

If I wanted to, I could spend the entire week, every day, pounding on the idiocies emanating from the left side of the isle. The Genius of the Guardian, for instan...

Happy New Year

I can’t really post today, because house, cats, family, book. Nothing bad, just posting not happening. What I meant to post was best and worst of 2014.

Makes puppy dog eyes. Ya’ll could get started in comments!

Make it So

Inflection Points

I’m completely aware that New Year’s is an artificial inflection point in our lives. Of course it is. As a day in which the sun comes up and the sun sets, in which the normal number of things happen, it is a day like any other.

But then when you think about it, so much about human life and consciousness is artificial. By which I mean it is something learned and sought, something created and held onto; it is not a “natural” occurrence. The natural occurrences are our eating, ou...