Will Shetterly's Blog, page 135

Matthew Stoller on 19th Century red-baiting: communism, American Indians, and Confederates

Antebellum Red-Baiting: When Slaveholders Accused Northerners of Fomenting Communism

More 19th Century Redbaiting: Native Americans Are Communists, Which Is Why Anglo-Saxons Must Kill Them

Follow-Ups on 19th Century Red-Baiting

lazy meals: New Mexican New England Clam Chowder

New England Clam Chowder
green chiles

Mix to taste in the pot. Nom!

I think I invented this one, though it was not the science of the rockets. It's best with fresh roasted chiles, of course, but canned chiles are nice.

Today's USA inequality FAQ

From The chartbook of economic inequality, here's economic inequality in the US:


From Self Help is no help for inequality | The Great Debate:

there is no evidence that neither children nor adults know less about financial matters today than they did in 1930, or 1950, or the late 1970s — when the U.S. savings rate was 10 percent. There is also no evidence they know more than in 2006, when the savings rate fell to zero. (Today is it about 4 percent.) 

To presume home-buyers put into...

What would Wonder Woman wear? Amazonomachy has the answer

Just read (and recommend) The Amazon Women: Is There Any Truth Behind the Myth?. Its mention of Amazonomachy, "the portrayal of the mythical battle between the Ancient Greeks and the Amazons" in Greek art, made me think of the long argument over Wonder Woman's skimpy costume. I can't see DC going with something like this:


(Though people who are concerned with butt shots and twisted torsos for fighting women should note they're nothing new.)

But a fine costume might be inspired by...

If I was making an anthology of superhero fiction

I would include Robert N. Lee's "Finest Kind" from his 666ties stories. Otis Redding and Elvis are superheroes, but not allies. There's more about the stories in the series at Awesomedome.com.

This is the second plug I put off making because the work doesn't neatly fit in a genre, so I'm not quite sure how to tell the people who will love it that they will love it and the people who won't get it that they won't get it. This particular story may appear to be about super heroes, but it real...

things science fiction writers got wrong #8247

I'm going over my third novel, The Tangled Lands, to release it as an ebook in a week or so. Written in the late '80s, it was set partly in a cyberpunk future that's now effectively an alternate version of our present. Which meant I was surprised when I came on a line about a smoking section in a bar. I never thought outright smoking bans would be so successful.

The line was not purely cosmetic, so I had to think for a minute or three before I found a new version for the book. Yeah,...

on Rightscorp, the internet's privateer, and what to do if they say you've been busted for piracy

If you've been accused of pirating or think you might be, you should learn a little about Rightscorp before you do anything. As I understand the situation—and I am not a lawyer, so don't bother suing me if I'm wrong—companies like Rightscorp cannot legally get the names of suspected pirates from the ISPs directly, so they play a little trick. They send DMCA takedown notices with a request that the ISP send their full notices to the suspected pirates. Most ISPs agree. The full notices include...

on "Oginga Odinga of Kenya", one of Malcolm X's favorite songs

I had heard that "Oginga Odinga of Kenya" was one of Malcolm X's favorite songs, so I went looking and found two versions:





Gail Falk wrote about it in Freedom Songs,

My favorite Oginga Odinga tells about the State Department’s ill fated effort to show Kenyan official Oginga Odinga in 1963 that race relations in the United States were really fine. The State Dept. included Atlanta on its tour (after all, it was supposed to be the City Too Busy to Hate) and put Odinga up a...

on Douglas Lain's 'Billy Moon'

This is not a book to read when you want to read a book like another kind of book. It should be shelved under "literature and fiction" because the people who go to the science fiction and fantasy section are not looking for a book like this, though some of them will be very happy when they find it. Douglas Lain is a great writer, but when I try to figure out how to recommend this book, I'm at a loss, because Billy Moon's characteristics are strengths or weaknesses depending on what you'r...

my new book, A Socialist Reader, free or 99 cents!

I made an ebook that's free at Smashwords and is currently 99 cents at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, but will be free at those sites when they notice it's free at Smashwords and match the price.
Contents:

• A very short introduction by me 

• Two collections of my favorite quotes about socialism, sharing, and wealth, Quotes for Socialists and Socialist Quotes from the Great Religions

• The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Frede...