Lynn Flewelling's Blog, page 30
November 23, 2011
Happy Turkey Day, All!
May you be warm and cozy, overstuffed and dozy, free from drama, at peace with your mama.
I'm in Scarborough, Maine with my bro-in-law, Andy, stocking up on groceries and making pies while we wait for more of his family and mine to arrive. Doug and Tim are enroute from CA, and Matt and his girlfriend are arriving tomorrow by bus. Doug's Mom, Andy's kids, and assorted others will be here for dinner tomorrow night, with lots of cribbage, dominoes, cards and whatnot.
Happy holidays to all!
I'm in Scarborough, Maine with my bro-in-law, Andy, stocking up on groceries and making pies while we wait for more of his family and mine to arrive. Doug and Tim are enroute from CA, and Matt and his girlfriend are arriving tomorrow by bus. Doug's Mom, Andy's kids, and assorted others will be here for dinner tomorrow night, with lots of cribbage, dominoes, cards and whatnot.
Happy holidays to all!
November 18, 2011
On the Ground Report from Yesterday's Occupy Wall Street March
My friend Laura Anne Gilman was one of the brave marchers yesterday and made a detailed report at her blog. I encourage you to read it.
Despite the frustrations I voiced yesterday, (and continue to feel today) she's my hero, and the others who ran the police gauntlet to exercise free speech and free assembly. The reaction of the police to that peaceful assembly is pretty telling. I saw on the news the phalanx of mounted police Bloomberg positioned on Wall Street. Whatever his thinking, it's hard not to interpret it as the civic authorities caring more about protecting the rich and the workings of power than the rights of ordinary people.
Despite the frustrations I voiced yesterday, (and continue to feel today) she's my hero, and the others who ran the police gauntlet to exercise free speech and free assembly. The reaction of the police to that peaceful assembly is pretty telling. I saw on the news the phalanx of mounted police Bloomberg positioned on Wall Street. Whatever his thinking, it's hard not to interpret it as the civic authorities caring more about protecting the rich and the workings of power than the rights of ordinary people.
November 17, 2011
Frustrated Thoughts on Occupy Wall Street
The following are merely my own musings/rantings on the subject. Discussion welcome, as always. Flames, as always, are not.
9AM, PST: I'm watching CNN with my coffee, and the coverage is of the gathering protestors in New York for the two month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street. When I started watching an hour ago, there was a party atmosphere, with protestors batting colorful balloons around under golden trees in Zuchatti (sp) Park, with some drumming and waving of cacophonous signage. "This is the dawning of the Age of Hilarious" just doesn't carry the same gravitas as the Tea Party's purloined slogan, "Don't Tread on Me".
Just now, however, I saw a cop dragging a young woman off the sidewalk by her long dark hair and cuffing her. And it's only noon back east.
So here are my thoughts: as an outside observer, one who whole heartedly and most unBuddhistly loathes the Tea Party and their "let him die!" rabble mentality, I am, so far, not impressed with the Occupy movement.
The Tea Party has succeeded, and they have, folks, because they organized carefully, held focused rallies, developed a laser sharp platform, and learned how to work the System. The result? They have members of Congress in their well padded pockets, enough of them to seriously fuck up the works for Obama and all the good work he's trying to do.
Pitching tents, banging drums in a park, and having no apparent coherent message, is not accomplishing this.
I AM part of the 99%, with a vengeance. I'm looking at the money I've paid in all my working life with the expectation of "entitlements" (which I fucking paid for!) evaporating before my eyes while the Rich get more tax cuts. Under one deadline proposed, I'll miss the cutoff by a paltry two years.
I'm watching my parents benefiting mightily from Medicare, and having a standard of life they could not afford, given their recent run of medical expenses, which would have bankrupted them without Medicare. The Tea Party and the Rich want to take that away from me, too.
I'm watching my kids struggle to find decent jobs and listening to political commentators positing that my children will not have the same quality of life I have, no matter how hard they work.
Anyway, that's the tip of the iceberg on my shit list. Yeah, I'm one of you, OW, and I do appreciate the level of energy going into this. I just question whether it's really raising anyone's consciousness, rather than reinforcing in the mind's of the undecided that the left is loony and disorganized. Drumming circles? Really?
Take a leaf (heh) from the Tea Party's play book, OW. Organize. Clarify your message. Find some articulate public figures to be your figureheads, and infiltrate government at the highest levels, because THAT'S what's going to effect change. You want to be taken seriously? That's what it's going to take. Once you have that focus, pour all that energy behind it. Unless this is a homegrown Arab Spring-type movement that wants to overthrow the government and set up something else, in which case, you've lost me.
Now, about your signage. "Age of Hilarious"? Take that person and those like them aside and frisk them for their Tea Party membership cards. Adopt an insignia, like the TP's "Don't Tread On Me" snake and have it professionally printed on big, clear signs. Make ALL your signs readable. We can't see them on TV. We don't know what you're trying to tell us. We can't make out what you're chanting, either. Pull it together, folks! Lose the balloons, too. Are you making a serious statement or having Spring Break? And what the heck are those red and black flags with no message on them? Did I miss a memo? Too subtle. I did see someone displaying the US flag upside down, which was a sign of distress in the old Navy days. I highly approve of that, but be sure to get a press release out to explain to the talking heads what it means. They'll do the rest for you. Use them! The TP does.
I know a lot of what you're doing is relevant in the moment, where you are. But it's not each other you have to impress. It's those of us watching you on the news. You need to sway us to your cause and you need to do it in a way that will get us ALL power in the Halls of Power. 'Cause those Halls ain't going anywhere. We need more than consciousness raising. We need Congress people with the spine and balls to stand up to the 1% who have hoodwinked the Tea Party into defending their interests.
Here endeth the Rant.
9AM, PST: I'm watching CNN with my coffee, and the coverage is of the gathering protestors in New York for the two month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street. When I started watching an hour ago, there was a party atmosphere, with protestors batting colorful balloons around under golden trees in Zuchatti (sp) Park, with some drumming and waving of cacophonous signage. "This is the dawning of the Age of Hilarious" just doesn't carry the same gravitas as the Tea Party's purloined slogan, "Don't Tread on Me".
Just now, however, I saw a cop dragging a young woman off the sidewalk by her long dark hair and cuffing her. And it's only noon back east.
So here are my thoughts: as an outside observer, one who whole heartedly and most unBuddhistly loathes the Tea Party and their "let him die!" rabble mentality, I am, so far, not impressed with the Occupy movement.
The Tea Party has succeeded, and they have, folks, because they organized carefully, held focused rallies, developed a laser sharp platform, and learned how to work the System. The result? They have members of Congress in their well padded pockets, enough of them to seriously fuck up the works for Obama and all the good work he's trying to do.
Pitching tents, banging drums in a park, and having no apparent coherent message, is not accomplishing this.
I AM part of the 99%, with a vengeance. I'm looking at the money I've paid in all my working life with the expectation of "entitlements" (which I fucking paid for!) evaporating before my eyes while the Rich get more tax cuts. Under one deadline proposed, I'll miss the cutoff by a paltry two years.
I'm watching my parents benefiting mightily from Medicare, and having a standard of life they could not afford, given their recent run of medical expenses, which would have bankrupted them without Medicare. The Tea Party and the Rich want to take that away from me, too.
I'm watching my kids struggle to find decent jobs and listening to political commentators positing that my children will not have the same quality of life I have, no matter how hard they work.
Anyway, that's the tip of the iceberg on my shit list. Yeah, I'm one of you, OW, and I do appreciate the level of energy going into this. I just question whether it's really raising anyone's consciousness, rather than reinforcing in the mind's of the undecided that the left is loony and disorganized. Drumming circles? Really?
Take a leaf (heh) from the Tea Party's play book, OW. Organize. Clarify your message. Find some articulate public figures to be your figureheads, and infiltrate government at the highest levels, because THAT'S what's going to effect change. You want to be taken seriously? That's what it's going to take. Once you have that focus, pour all that energy behind it. Unless this is a homegrown Arab Spring-type movement that wants to overthrow the government and set up something else, in which case, you've lost me.
Now, about your signage. "Age of Hilarious"? Take that person and those like them aside and frisk them for their Tea Party membership cards. Adopt an insignia, like the TP's "Don't Tread On Me" snake and have it professionally printed on big, clear signs. Make ALL your signs readable. We can't see them on TV. We don't know what you're trying to tell us. We can't make out what you're chanting, either. Pull it together, folks! Lose the balloons, too. Are you making a serious statement or having Spring Break? And what the heck are those red and black flags with no message on them? Did I miss a memo? Too subtle. I did see someone displaying the US flag upside down, which was a sign of distress in the old Navy days. I highly approve of that, but be sure to get a press release out to explain to the talking heads what it means. They'll do the rest for you. Use them! The TP does.
I know a lot of what you're doing is relevant in the moment, where you are. But it's not each other you have to impress. It's those of us watching you on the news. You need to sway us to your cause and you need to do it in a way that will get us ALL power in the Halls of Power. 'Cause those Halls ain't going anywhere. We need more than consciousness raising. We need Congress people with the spine and balls to stand up to the 1% who have hoodwinked the Tea Party into defending their interests.
Here endeth the Rant.
November 15, 2011
Kindlegraphs!
Have my books on a Kindle? I can now "autograph" them for you, via Kindlegraph. http://www.kindlegraph.com
:-)
:-)
November 13, 2011
November 12, 2011
Guest Blogger: Steven Harper
Hi all. Please give a big Talk in the Shadows Welcome to my buddy Steven Harper!
He's here to edumakate us on the ever growing world of steampunk, and his wonderful new series, The Clockwork Empire, which begins with THE DOOMSDAY VAULT.
Take it away, Steve!
NON-TRADITIONAL TRADITION
The Victorian era had a number of progressive moments. It introduced the ideas of compulsory education, child labor laws, women's suffrage, and divorce. But, quite rightly, it's also remembered as a time period of terrible restrictions. The poor were used and abused. Orphans were openly bought and sold in London. Women's clothing was designed to hinder their movements. The laws and customs regarding relationships were so strict, it's amazing anyone managed to brush hands, let along have children.
It's the restrictions, of course, that fascinate us. Tell someone you can't have something, and it becomes all the more enticing. Forbidden foods. Forbidden books. Forbidden relationships.
We love to read about people caught against the rules, and that's what steampunk is about--non-tradition people in a traditional society.
When I wrote THE DOOMSDAY VAULT, I deliberately set out to explore a non-traditional relationship. And I got shocked responses before the book was even published. Weird, huh?
DOOMSDAY, which is set in nineteenth century London, has two protagonists: Alice Michaels and Gavin Ennock. Alice is twenty-two. Gavin is seventeen. What with one thing and another, Gavin ends up locked in a high tower. Alice manages to free him, and is a little unnerved to find herself falling for him. Gavin feels the same way about Alice.
When I started sending chapters through my writers group, many of the members reported feeling squicked about this. Gavin is too young for Alice. "Bleah! Ew!"
A few weeks after he meets Alice, Gavin turns eighteen, so he's of legal age, and he lives in an era when people grow up more quickly than in our own. My writers group's response? "Bleah! Ew!"
But we must ask a corollary question: if Alice had been eighteen and Gavin had been twenty-two, what would be the response?
"Ble--what?"
In the Victorian era, no one would blink at a man in his twenties marrying an eighteen-year-old. Why, in our modern, more equable, times, are we upset about the reverse?
To be fair, the book does make the age difference a point of conflict in their relationship. Alice, a traditional woman, worries about it, while the free-spirited Gavin wonders why it bothers her. They have to work through this if they want to be happy.
It's fiction's job to look at what our society sees as traditional and ask questions about it, because even when a book isn't set in our society, it's still about us. Why do we allow one thing and not the other? Why do we think this way? Can we allow such thinking to go on and call ourselves fair and open?
Steampunk mixes the traditional and non-traditional in new ways that lets us ask these interesting questions. And maybe we'll eventually change the answers.
Steven Harper usually lives at http://www.theclockworkempire.com and http://spiziks.livejournal.com . His steampunk novel THE DOOMSDAY VAULT, first in the Clockwork Empire series, hits the stores in print and electronic format November 1.
He's here to edumakate us on the ever growing world of steampunk, and his wonderful new series, The Clockwork Empire, which begins with THE DOOMSDAY VAULT.
Take it away, Steve!
NON-TRADITIONAL TRADITION
The Victorian era had a number of progressive moments. It introduced the ideas of compulsory education, child labor laws, women's suffrage, and divorce. But, quite rightly, it's also remembered as a time period of terrible restrictions. The poor were used and abused. Orphans were openly bought and sold in London. Women's clothing was designed to hinder their movements. The laws and customs regarding relationships were so strict, it's amazing anyone managed to brush hands, let along have children.
It's the restrictions, of course, that fascinate us. Tell someone you can't have something, and it becomes all the more enticing. Forbidden foods. Forbidden books. Forbidden relationships.
We love to read about people caught against the rules, and that's what steampunk is about--non-tradition people in a traditional society.
When I wrote THE DOOMSDAY VAULT, I deliberately set out to explore a non-traditional relationship. And I got shocked responses before the book was even published. Weird, huh?
DOOMSDAY, which is set in nineteenth century London, has two protagonists: Alice Michaels and Gavin Ennock. Alice is twenty-two. Gavin is seventeen. What with one thing and another, Gavin ends up locked in a high tower. Alice manages to free him, and is a little unnerved to find herself falling for him. Gavin feels the same way about Alice.
When I started sending chapters through my writers group, many of the members reported feeling squicked about this. Gavin is too young for Alice. "Bleah! Ew!"
A few weeks after he meets Alice, Gavin turns eighteen, so he's of legal age, and he lives in an era when people grow up more quickly than in our own. My writers group's response? "Bleah! Ew!"
But we must ask a corollary question: if Alice had been eighteen and Gavin had been twenty-two, what would be the response?
"Ble--what?"
In the Victorian era, no one would blink at a man in his twenties marrying an eighteen-year-old. Why, in our modern, more equable, times, are we upset about the reverse?
To be fair, the book does make the age difference a point of conflict in their relationship. Alice, a traditional woman, worries about it, while the free-spirited Gavin wonders why it bothers her. They have to work through this if they want to be happy.
It's fiction's job to look at what our society sees as traditional and ask questions about it, because even when a book isn't set in our society, it's still about us. Why do we allow one thing and not the other? Why do we think this way? Can we allow such thinking to go on and call ourselves fair and open?
Steampunk mixes the traditional and non-traditional in new ways that lets us ask these interesting questions. And maybe we'll eventually change the answers.
Steven Harper usually lives at http://www.theclockworkempire.com and http://spiziks.livejournal.com . His steampunk novel THE DOOMSDAY VAULT, first in the Clockwork Empire series, hits the stores in print and electronic format November 1.
November 9, 2011
Home at Last
Got home from Maine late last night and am trying today to readjust my body clock, life pattern, and shake off the jet lag. I had a great two week visit with my folks and my Mom credits her speedy recovery from broken ribs to my cooking and insistence on loose leaf tea. And my willingness to be massacred at Scrabble, cribbage, chicken foot, etc, too, probably.
Physically, I'm having my usual bout of jet lag ickiness. That east-west cross country flight just doesn't agree with me. West-east? No problem. Very strange.
Maine in Oct/Nov is just lovely, especially on the coast. The change in the colors just from when I was there with the field trip was really amazing.
Here's me visiting my future home: ;-)
And some shots of my favorite place on Earth.
My folks and my sister and her husband on "Lobster Night" or "Why I am not a vegetarian."
Does this sculpture at Schoodic Point look like giant sperm to you? It did to us.
Physically, I'm having my usual bout of jet lag ickiness. That east-west cross country flight just doesn't agree with me. West-east? No problem. Very strange.
Maine in Oct/Nov is just lovely, especially on the coast. The change in the colors just from when I was there with the field trip was really amazing.
Here's me visiting my future home: ;-)
And some shots of my favorite place on Earth.
My folks and my sister and her husband on "Lobster Night" or "Why I am not a vegetarian."
Does this sculpture at Schoodic Point look like giant sperm to you? It did to us.
Today's Buddhist Thought
"Friendship is the only cure for hatred, the only guarantee of peace." The Buddha
November 2, 2011
Always Nice to be Nominated
For the second year in a row, Romantic Times has made me a nominee for their Career Achievement Award. :-) The fact that they include me in the same breath with Connie Willis is quite an award in itself.
Still in Maine.
Still in Maine.
