L. Jagi Lamplighter's Blog, page 12
September 26, 2016
Book Trailer — Unexpected Enlightenment
A placeholding video, until we can make a real one.
September 23, 2016
New Newsletter Coming: Wrights’ Writing Report!
John and I will be sending out a newsletter two to four times a year with information about new releases and other book related issues.
Anyone who wishes to join may visit the new signup form on the About page.
September 20, 2016
The Wright Stuff!
We now have a shop at Zazzle. There are collections there with items from the Books of Unexpected Enlightment, the Prospero's Children (Daughter) series, Tales of Moths and Cobwebs, and the general writings of John C. Wright.
At the suggestion of reen author and superfan April Freeman, the shop is called:
Want Mephisto on a shirt?
Or Miranda?
Mab on a mouse pad?
Dread to guard your head? (With Gaius the Grumpy Sheep on the back)
A cheer weasel bag or two to keep your spirits up? (Art by April Freeman)
Rachel Griffin on a mug? (Two choices)
Maybe you are grumpy in the morning and you want something that compliments your mood. Try Gaius the Grumpy Sheep!
Rammish!
Or maybe you like your hot drinks spicier–with Loralie from Iron Chamber of Memory?
And in case all that coffee keeps you AWAKE IN THE NIGHT LAND…
Time is running out to escape the Dark Tower!
But we might survive if we can only Know Everything!
Lot's more at The Wright Stuff
September 17, 2016
Live Chat Now!
Come listen to us discuss World Con and the Dragon Awards.
On this Superversive Round table we have Dave Truesdale, ejected from World Con for upsetting snow flakes and Dragon Award winnders John C. Wright, Nick Cole and Brian Niemeier as well as the usual group.
We will be chatting about the Hugos and the Dragon awards.
Is the Hugo dead? Has the Dragon buried it?
September 13, 2016
The Bifrost Between Calico and Gingham
I have been asked what the Puppies—Sad and Rabid alike—are objecting to? If they are not racist or homophobes—ie, if it is not the author's identity that they object to—why do they think that so many of the stories that have been winning the Hugo and the Nebula are receiving their awards for the wrong reasons?
I think I can explain. I will use, for my example, the short story that won the Hugo in 2016: “Cat Pictures Please.”
(Spoilers below. If you haven't read "Cat Pictures Please" and wish to, you can find it here.)
Science Fiction:
My overall take on “Cat Pictures Please”, as a science fiction story was that it was witty and clever but not that deep or original. It reminded me of a number of older short stories, including one of my all time favorites, “LOKI 7281” by Roger Zelazny, a witty story in which a personal computer is slowly trying to take control of more and more of its owner’s life (with the tagline: “He’ll never notice.”)
“Cat Pictures Please” has the distinction of portraying the waking AI as friendly. I found that refreshing.
While the premise was charming, I must admit I had trouble seeing why “Cat Pictures Please” was the best story of the year. I’d read stories last year that I thought were significantly better. It was cute, but I had trouble seeing how it measured up to “Scanners Live In Vain” or “Flowers For Algernon” or “Nine billion names of God.”
But I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt here. It is possible that many of these voting are young enough that they haven’t read the stories that made this one seem derivative to me. If so, this story would seem much more impressive.
And tastes differ.
That’s okay.
Politics:
There is something very comforting about reading a work that compliments our world view, especially if we feel (as everyone does, nowadays) that our world view is under attack.
There is a sense of: YES!
And: That’s exactly how it is!
Or even: Finally things are how they should be!
Reading something that does not agree with our world view, however, is not so satisfying. Our reactions tend to fall into two patterns. The first—the reaction for which all good speculative fiction strives—is: Oh! That’s why they see it that way. That's an angle that I had not considered. Hmm.
The second, alas, is: Oh, Gee, not this again! Really? What, do they expect me to just stand here while they poke me in the eye?
These are not Left/Right reactions. They are universal. I will demonstrate:
Abortion is a woman’s choice.
The right to buy weapons is the right to be free.*
If one of those two statements made you nod your head and smile, and the other made you wince, as if you’d been poked in the eye, you know exactly what I mean.
*–Kudos to whomever can identify what golden age SF book this second phrase comes from.
So, if a story agrees with our world view, we like it more. If it disagrees—but not in a way that expands our world view—we feel as if we’ve been poked in the eye.
There is one point I feel I must pause to make here. I have heard friends express the idea that it is good for people to read things they disagree with. It expands their mind.
If you happen to be a person who believes this, ask yourself when the last time was that you read an article expounding the opposing point-of-view, and it explanded your mind, rather than just annoying you?
What is effective is when we present our ideas to each other in a new way, from a different perspective. This is, in fact, what, historically, SF has been known for. But these have to be new ideas, ways of looking at the matter that the reader has not seen before. Presenting the same ideas that a reader has already examined and dismissed–be they Left or Right–does not have any effect upon the reader who disagrees with them except–yes, you guessed it! Ouch, my eye!
Cat Pictures Please and Politics.
“Cat Pictures Please” is a very Left-leaning story. For those who are unfamiliar with it, here are a few examples.
The story acts as if porn (henti) addictions are common and accepted by all as normal.
The AI dismisses the Ten Commandments and most religious morality in a paragraph.*
It believes that psychological counseling is the best reaction to depression. This comes up quite a bit in the story.
It tempts a pastor who looks at pictures of other men into an adulterous relationship with someone who knows him for the purpose of outing him with his wife, getting him a divorce, and moving him to a Liberal church, so that he can end the story happy, living with his male-lover.
If you yourself are Left-Leaning, this probably seems normal. If you are Right-Leaning, you’ve probably been just poked in the eye.
* — The AI dismisses the Ten Commandants with the line “I don’t envy anyone their cat; I just want pictures of their cat, which is entirely different. I am not sure whether it is in any way possible for me to commit adultery. I could probably murder someone, but it would require complex logistics and quite a bit of luck.“
This, even though the AI goes on to help a human commit adultery. I would have enjoyed “Cat Pictures Please” more, if the story had given me the impression that the author did this on purpose—to show the limitations of an Internet-derived morality—or if I even had felt that the author was aware of the irony. Alas, I did not get this impression from the story, and this reduced my enjoyment of it.
So, to Left-Leaning readers, “Cat Pictures Please” is a witty story with a common, but perhaps new-to-them, SF premise, which also reinforces their idea of truth about the world and comes to a delightfully-satisfying conclusion.
The mixture of the simple SF premise, the wit, and the satisfying political leaning make it a very delightful story indeed.
To anyone who is Right-Leaning, “Cat Pictures Please” is a witty story with a common, and perhaps not-so-new-to-them, SF premise, which is full of concepts and moral choices that grate on them the wrong way, and the end is, while a bit amusing, rather unpleasant.
The first group says, “This is a great story!”
The second group says, “Look, I’ll be fair and overlook all the pokes in the eye, but as I am regarding the story through my blurry, now-painful eyes, I want to see some really fantastic science fiction. Something that wows me so much that I am going to think it is worth putting next to “Nightfall” or “Harrison Bergeron.” And I just don’t see it.
"Your stuff is not new. If you take today's problems and put them in space, that's not science fiction. You need the new, the controversial, to be SF.
"Where is the stuff that’s going to shake my world and make me think, the way the Hugo winners of years gone by, such as “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”, did?”
To the first group, they want to give the award to the stories that really stayed with them, and they are judging this criteria on the whole effect of the story: SF premise and social statement combined.
To the second group, they want the story to stand on its SF premise alone, not on its social commentary. They are willing to read something they disagree with, but only if the science fiction is so awesome that it makes getting poked in the eye worth it.
*
I hope this explanation will help bridge the abyss currently gaping between Puppies and Non-Puppies, and contribute, if only in the slightest way, to the approach that glorious future day when we might once again return to what is really important, our mutual love of our awesome genre.
September 12, 2016
Puppy of the Month Book Club!
A new online book club sets out to read and discuss Puppy titles.
Puppy of the Month Book Club says of their criteria.
So what makes a book a viable candidate for Puppy Of the Month? Easy:
Any novel nominated by the Sad Puppies for a Hugo nomination
Any novel nominated by the Rabid Puppies for a Hugo nomination
Any work listed in Appendix N of Gary Gygax's D&D Dungeon Master's Guide
Any work published by Castalia House
Any work selected by a Contributor that isn't shouted down by the rest of the contributors as an inappropriate selection
The only other criteria for selection is that the work has to be reasonably readable in two weeks, including shipping. No 1,000 page magnum opuses. Selected works should also be readily available, preferably through Gutenberg Project, Amazon.com, or one of the remaining major book chains. Any work nominated that required multiple trips to boutique booksellers or 'knowing a guy what knows a guy' – if we can't all find it we can't all read it, and hence we can't all discuss it.
For their first month, they are reading Nethereal by Dragon Award winning author, Brian Niemeier. Since this is a book I helped edit, I could not be more delighted.
You can find out more — or join in! — here.
September 11, 2016
Call for Reviewers for Tangent Online!
Posting a call for reviewers!
Tangent Online is looking for 5 new reviewers to fill slots made available by current reviewers going back to school to finish graduate degrees, or to begin or resume teaching duties. Knowledge of the SF/F field a must. Review or other writing experience (non-fiction or fiction) highly preferred but will work with the right person. Send examples if possible.
Tangent is a fanzine and does not pay. We do what we do for love of genre and have done so for 23 years (6 time Hugo nominee since 1993).
Applicants must be detail oriented and able to follow simple instructions as to formatting of reviews. Reviewers choose from a monthly list of magazines what they would like to review until the list is cleared. Review as much or as little as you wish.
Applicants send queries to Dave Truesdale, Editor, Tangent Online at: tangent.dt1@gmail.com
September 8, 2016
Making Distinctions Where Distinctions Are Due
Just heard a term I really like: Alt-Left
The Alt-Left (a.k.a. SJW, SJZ, Social Justice Warriors, Social Justice Zealots, Social Justice Zombies, and crybullies) do not believe in free speech. tolerating people who disapprove of their ideas, or that the races should be treated equally. (They just convinced the University of California to offer race segregated housing. Poor Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. must be spinning in his grave. Perhaps this is a secret plan to create an perpetual motion machine by attaching a generator to the unfortunate reverend and his fellow Civil Rights leaders.)
They are the Alt-Left, because they are entirely a different group from the Left:
The Left are Liberals, i.e. people who are, well, liberal. They believe in freedom, free speech, toleration, treating everyone equally, regardless of race. They are open-minded, so much so that whatever you tell them, they will response:
“Nothing you can say will offend me.”
This is directly opposed to the Alt-Left, who even take offense at kindly meant comments, such as “Excuse me, sir,” or God bless you."
September 7, 2016
September 5, 2016
The Prude and The Trollop
Occasionally, I come upon a review (there has been more than one) of The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin where the reader threw the book across the room and stopped reading at the scene in Chapter Four where crazy orphan boy Sigfried Smith encounters a young woman deliberately wearing too-tight clothing to flaunt her curves and uses the word (brace yourselves, my dear readers) trollop.
These reviewers universally agree: clearly the author (not the character, mind you) must be a disapproving prude out to slut-shame all well-endowed girls.
This is obvious, because the "trollop's" name is Salome Iscariot–which no author in their right mind would give to a character who was not a villainess. So don't read her book. Because, you know, evil.
Except…
Salome Iscariot is not a villain.
So, to put to bed any rumors that Salome Iscariot is not adored by her author, here is an excerpt from the soon-to-be-released Third Book of Unexpected Enlightenment: Rachel and the Many-Splendored Dreamland.
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Valerie Hunt and her best friend, Salome Iscariot
From: Rachel and the Many-Speldored Dreamland
Chapter Twenty-Eight:
Though the World May Burn
“Eeevil! I told you he was evil!” Salome arched her back into a bridge atop a table in the Storm King Café and raised one leg, pointing her toe toward the ceiling. Her skirt slipped down revealing her black-tights-clad thigh. She pursed her deep red lips. “Vladimir Von Dread is sooo evil! Not that I object to him anymore, mind you. He’s actually kind of cool, not to mention brain-stunningly gorgeous, but…conqueror of sixty-five worlds! Totally eeeeevil!”
Siggy’s eyes grew huge, fixed on the shapeliness of her inner thigh. A happy dreamy look came over his face. Then, yanking his gaze away, he grabbed a fork off the table and stuck it into his own thigh until he grunted with discomfort.
“Um, Miss Iscariot,” Siggy raised his palm to form blinders, blocking his view of the young lady. “I don’t mean to sound critical, but this may not be the best place for a display of modern dance. Right, Lucky?”
“I don’t know,” Lucky cocked his head to one side and then the other, “maybe it’s a mating dance. You should bite her on the back of her neck and drag her off to the harem cave. Do you have the hot volcanic sands ready for the eggs?”
“Lucky,” Sigfried replied sternly, “I have explained to you about no harems.” He leaned over and put his arm around Valerie, who rolled her eyes. “Miss Iscariot may be eye-burningly attractive, but I am a one-woman man.”
“I am with Mr. Smith, Miss Iscariot. Perhaps this is not the best venue to appear so unclad,” murmured the Princess, who sat at the same table as Siggy, sipping her tea. Her Tasmanian tiger sat regally beside her.
“Oh you people. You’re such prudes.” Salome flipped her legs over her head and landed lightly on her feet on the floor. She spread her arms. “Ta-da!”
She adjusted her skirt with lackadaisical slowness. The older boys at the far table were not as chivalrous as Sigfried and watched the whole thing with prurient interest. She turned and gave them a languid, smoky glance over her shoulder.
“Does your boyfriend mind you doing that?” Rachel asked, thinking with pleasure of the moment, during the Knight’s dueling period, when she had bested Salome's boyfriend, the handsome and arrogant Ethan Warhol.
“What can he do about it?” Salome shrugged her shoulders in a fashion pleasing to the upperclassman boys. “If he wants the gorgeous lusciousness that is me,” she made a cute, cheerful gesture, ending with both her hands—and her flaming pink and fire-truck red nails—pointing at her face, “my entourage of lust-maddened boy-toys is part of the package.”
