Steven Barnes's Blog, page 3
February 12, 2019
What They Say, What They Do, What They Say About What They Do (and Vice Versa)
“The way a person talks about other people in front of you is how they will talk about you in front of other people.”–David Gerrold
My friend SF titan David Gerrold was on a podcast recently, waiting to go on a show discussing Star Trek when he heard another guest bad-mouthing people venomously. His heart sank, and he hung up, deciding not to be a part of such a hate-fest. Luckily, the host understood that something bad had happened, and rescheduled the call for another time.
David’s...
February 11, 2019
“The Prodigy” (2019)
The mother wonders: is the eight year old boy she brought into the world really her son? Has she glimpsed another, older, leering presence hiding in his cherubic face? Is his advanced intellect and stunted emotions indicative of genius, or something far more disturbing? And when her frustrated husband leaves the house, and her child appears in her bedroom at night and asks “can I sleep with you Mommy..?” and crawls into her bed…
What in the world is she supposed to think and feel?
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February 6, 2019
Mystery Is My Hobby
Why do I write stories of the fantastic and bizarre? Because my mind has always worked that way. And because I went looking for oddness, sometimes it found me. This isn’t the strangest story I have…but it was a life-changing one.
Oh yes. It was
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This happened about thirty years ago. I was at LAX airport, awaiting the arrival of my guru, Sri Chinmoy. I’d had a phone call from one of his other students telling me that Chinmoy was coming through on his way to Korean, taking a three hour l...
February 5, 2019
Liam’s Sin Is Ours As Well
“Who hurt you?” the boy asked his friend, who had been brutalized. The description was given, and a fountain of hate and anger erupts in a young heart. Seizing a weapon, the boy stalks the night in search of anyone, ANYONE, who looks like the perpetrator. He must defend his friend. His tribe. He seeks…a black man to beat into the ground, the flames of anger and fear consuming morality and reason.
And many years later, Liam Neeson admits that he did this. Triggering fear and anger in...
February 4, 2019
A Night To Remember
I was at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, and found myself watching the wonderful Keith (“The Thing” and “They Live”) David being interviewed on the red carpet. Afterwards, I was talking to director Ernest Dickerson (“Demon Knight”) and Keith came over and we all started jawing.
I wondered if I was going to do it. I’d had a joke I’d kept in my mind for YEARS and never thought I’d really have the chance to say to the folks concerned. But then…the opening happened.
“I’ve had a joke I’ve told...
February 3, 2019
On Blackface and Accusations
A couple of events in the last week which, in Black History Month, it might be reasonable to expect me to comment on.
Blackface is anchored to an entire network of insult. It is possible to explain its use under the categories “ignorance” and “obliviousness” but also “callousness” and “bigotry.” I wouldn’t automatically condemn someone who did it, especially in the past, but would listen very carefully to their explanations and attitudes. A clear statement of “oops? God I was stupid” and a c...February 1, 2019
“Night of the Living Dead” (1968) and the art of transgression
The theater was dark, and cool. It was midnight, abut 1972, and I felt the darkness as I rarely had before, the black and white images on the screen taking me into a world I’d never experienced. I was watching Night of the Living Dead for the first time, and I was not happy.
Something was happening on the screen that I couldn’t explain. From “they’re coming to get you, Barbara” through the gathering of the main characters in the lonely house, boarding up the windows and fending off t...
January 31, 2019
“Blacula” (1972): Pain into power
When I was in first grade, I first learned my place in the world. Kindergarten had been great. I still remember the first day, with my mother taking me to Alta Loma elementary school, and asking the nice lady if she would “watch” me for a little while. It was all singing and playing and eating graham crackers and drinking juice from paper cups and taking naps.
But in first grade things changed. We were a diverse group: black and white and Asian and probably some Latino kids as well. Everyone...
January 29, 2019
“Polar” (2019) and the power of love
Recent discussions have triggered some serious emotions, and I wanted to address that. From one reader who felt “blamed” for a catastrophically failed relationship, to another who had lost all contact with the desire to improve life, the concept that we MUST take responsibility for our lives is inextricably linked to loving ourselves deeply: it is the path to connecting to our survival drives. Once you do that, you have all the energy you need, and in fact will have to learn to “dial it down”...
January 28, 2019
“You Were There”
I was in a hot tub at a convention, meeting “Ruth” the new wife of an old acquaintance, “Jeff”. She was a pretty lady, quite verbose, not shy at all about sharing her opinions (or getting naked in a hot tub) and was holding forth on her theories of male behavior.
I was interested in general, just sort of wondering what kind of lady “Jeff” had hooked up with, but also because…Ruth was a professional therapist. She had warmed to her subject, and the others in the tub were hanging on her ev...
