John D. Rateliff's Blog, page 149

Peter S. Beagle and Sir Terry Pratchett

So, recently I re-read THE LAST UNICORN again for the first time in decades (say, about thirty years). I don't think it's aged well, but there was a time when this was widely considered one of the major works in post-Tolkien fantasy, the one that carried on the gentle, wistful tradition of Nathan into a new era.


Reading it now, after all these years, I was struck by the following passage

"Let me tell you a story," said Schmendrick. "As a child I was apprenticed to the mightiest magician of all, the great Nikos . . . But even Nikos . . . could not change me into so much as a carnival cardsharp. At last he said to me, 'My son, your ineptitude is so vast, your incompetence so profound, that I am certain you are inhabited by a greater power than I have ever known. Unfortunately, it seems to be working backward at the moment, and even I can findno way to set it right. It must be that you are meant to findyour own way to reach your power in time; but frankly,you should live so long as that will take you. ThereforeI grant it that you shall not age from this day forth, but will travel the / world round and round, eternally inefficient, until at last you come to yourself and know what you are.Don't thank me. I tremble at your doom.' "

--This suddenly sounded to me rather like Pratchett's description of Rincewind, his haplessly inept wizard in THE COLOUR OF MAGIC and THE LIGHT FANTASTIC -- a wizard who cdn't do any magic because as an apprentice he'd looked into the world's most powerful spellbook and one of the Eight spells that make reality jumped from the book into his head, scaring off any other spells from ever entering it. Coincidence, perhaps, but it did make me wonder if a little bit of Pratchett's inspiration might have come from the older book.

We also watched the Rankin-Bass animated film of THE LAST UNICORN for the first time. It was all too horribly familiar with the Rankin-Bass HOBBIT, right down to sharing some of the voice actors --except here that THE HOBBIT got the better deal on the voices (John Huston, Richard Boone) and THE LAST UNICORN on the theme songs (America rather than ever-warbly Glenn Yarborough). Some time capsules shd stay closed.

--John R.
audiobook: HPL's DAGON, Agatha Christie's THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD

Voynich, Round Three

So, it was only a little over a month ago that I made a post about the latest confident pronouncement from someone who's 'solved' the mystery of the Voynich Manuscript.* And now, thanks to Janice, I can share another one. This time it's claimed to have Near East affinities (as opposed to Mesoamerican, like last time) and the purported decipherment involves identifying constellations; both claim to have identified plants, but they come from wholly different biospheres (New World and West Asian, respectively).  I haven't yet watched the embedded video in the following link, but it's amusing to note that this confident announcement makes no mention of the wholly difference 'decipherment' of a month before.

Here's the link. Enjoy!

http://www.beds.ac.uk/news/2014/february/600-year-old-mystery-manuscript-decoded-by-university-of-bedfordshire-professor

--John R.


*http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2014/01/voynich-revisited.html

Coming Soon to a DVD Player Near You

So, they've now announced when THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG will be released on dvd: Tuesday, April 8th -- a little over five weeks away.

Here's the link (the main bizarreness in which is their listing Benedict Cumberbatch as the lead actor, rather than Martin Freeman):

http://www.amazon.com/Hobbit-Desolation-Smaug-Special-UltraViolet/dp/B00HWWUQWQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1393789245&sr=1-3&keywords=desolation+of+smaug


In the meantime,  I'm taking some badly needed down time from the deadline and heading over this afternoon to watch one more time it in a theatre (it having been more than a month, I think).

--John R.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF 'THE HOBBIT'

So, thanks to amazon.co.uk, et al., the word is now out that a new version of my edition of THE HOBBIT manuscript is on the way. Entitled A BRIEF HISTORY OF 'THE HOBBIT', it'll be about half the length of the full edition (the best text of which is the one-volume HISTORY OF THE HOBBIT [2011]). My goal is to include all the Tolkien from the original edition but to greatly condense my commentary. In short, the end result will be a book with a much greater percentage of Tolkien and a much smaller percentage of Rateliff.

Pursuant to this goal, I'm seeking to correct all the errata I can. So if you're aware of any errata in the one-volume H.o.H. volume --errors new to that edition, or older errors not corrected in it -- drop me a line via the comments and I'll check them against my list.

Here's a link to the amazon.co.uk listing for the new book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brief-History-Hobbit-John-Rateliff/dp/0007557256

--John R.

current reading: A GRAVEYARD FOR LUNATICS (Bradbury), TALES OF INSPECTOR LE GRASSE (Henderson)
current audiobook: THE DUNWICH HORROR
current dvd: rewatching THE HOBBIT (part one, extended edition), rewatching CALL OF CTHLUHU (silent movie)

Three books to be on the look-out for

So, as a result of going to Kalamazoo, I've gotten on some university-press book-publishers mailing lists, and I get a more or less steady stream of flyers and mini-catalogues and the like regarding their new and forthcoming releases. Most of these I put aside to look at later, when I get time, and then never do -- since I hate to skim  and it takes more time than I have to spare to read through them in detail. But an appealing little booklet of new and forthcoming releases from Princeton University Press broke the mold, having in its first few pages not one but two books I'd not heard about that I'll definitely want to get; further scrutiny turned up a third towards the back of the little catalogue as well.


The first is 1177 B.C.: THE YEAR CIVILIZATION COLLAPSED by Eric H. Cline [forthcoming, April 2014], about the ravages of the Sea Peoples and how they brought about the collapse of Minoan and Mycenaean culture, as well as those of the Hittites and Babylonians -- everyone, in fact, except the Egyptians, who successfully fought them off.* The fall of Troy is the best-known episode in these events, unless Bernal is right in his suggestion that the Philistines, so well known in the Old Testament, were a branch of the Sea Peoples establishing themselves along the coast of Palestine. Looks to be an interesting treatment of a period I'd like to know more about, making this one look like a win-win proposition.

http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10185.html


The second is PHILOLOGY: THE FORGOTTEN ORIGINS OF THE MODERN HUMANITIES by James Turner [forthcoming, June 2014]. It cd be said that Tolkien was The Last Philologist (how's that for a book title for somebody someday?), the last representative of a great tradition in scholarship. Accordingly, learning more about that tradition shd cast some interesting light on Tolkien himself as well as his context.

http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10209.html


And the third is THE FIRST FOSSIL HUNTERS: DINOSAURS, MAMMOTHS, AND MYTH IN GREEK AND ROMAN TIMES by Adrienne Mayor [2011 rpt of a 2001 title*]. I've long known (or at least believed) that dragons, giants,  and similar monsters were in part based on the ancients encountering fossils of huge extinct creatures; sounds like in this book Mayor has laid out the evidence for that idea. Replacing general knowledge with specific, and on such an interesting topic too, makes this one sound like a potential keeper.

http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9435.html

So, when the book-budget allows, these three will all go on the 'order now' list. Here's hoping they live up to expectations.

--JDR
current audiobook: THE CALL OF CTHLUHU (short stories by HPL)
current reading: A GRAVEYARD FOR LUNATICS by Ray Bradbury (bad detective novel)


*previous edition's title: THE FIRST FOSSIL HUNTERS: PALEONTOLOGY IN GREEK AND ROMAN TIMES -- which I like rather better than the updated one, but so it goes.

I Shd Read the Local Papers More Often (Poke-em-With-a-Stick-Wednesday)

So, a few days ago I learned through a piece in the freebie local paper, THE KENT REPORTER, that the week before our state's governor, Jay Inslee, put a moratorium on all executions in Washington State. Here's the editorial in favor of the decision:

http://www.kentreporter.com/opinion/246242001.html


My take on this is:  Just like that, the world became a better place.

We're still caught up in a twelve-year war that shd have ended eleven years ago

We're still running a gulag to imprison men for life without trial

We're still doing a lot of things we shdn't. But sometimes, we get things right. And this is one of those times. So, good for Governor Inslee.

For a haunting look at a visual presentation of the last words of some recently executed people, see the following link; be sure to scroll down past the story to see the images:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/06/death-row-photography_n_4644109.html


--JDR

Pictures of Rigby

I've already shared the news that we lost little RIgby, our senior cat, last Friday. I've been meaning to write up a remembrance of her but find I can't bring myself to do so -- too many good memories to choose from, too much grief at the sudden finality of it all. So instead I thought I'd share some photos Janice turned up a few weeks back, of Rigby and Parker together when she was just a little kitten who'd newly joined our household. My memory said that they didn't get along at first, and it was only through a mutual admiration for sitting in Janice's lap, and working out a way they could both do so at the same time while not officially taking cognizance of the other's presence, that they gradually came to terms with each other. I see from these photos that this was not altogether the case: that Parker showed her the ropes from early on and was much more tolerant of giving up his only-cat status than I remembered.

Here are the pictures:





#1. two cats with two bowls = harmony. Or, little cat see, little cat do.
--note Rigby's dappled fur, almost like a fawn's.

















#2. harmony, part two: I'll eat while you drink





#3. The best water comes dripping from the sink.
 --'and the Rigby, she was up the slope, taking notice'





#4. And afterwards, there's nothing like a game of D-and-D. and a box. and a comfy couch.

More later
--JDR

Goodbye, Rigby

Sad to report that our delightful little senior cat, Rigby, died today. She was fifteen and a half and still, until last week, the springiest and best leaper of all our cats. She will be not just missed but mourned.
More later.

--John R.

The Cat Report (W. 2/19-14)

So, with the arrival of Ram and Bonfilia last Wednesday, and then Faye a few days later, and then the departure of bonded pair Danali and Sequoia,* that leaves us with five cats in the cat-room: three black (two sleek, one fluffy), one white calico, and one brown (& fluffy).


We started off the morning with walks, as usual. My pal KABOODLE was talky, as usual, but quiets down when he gets interested in something. He enjoyed exploring the cat-stands at the far end of the store but wanted v. much to try out the scratching posts beside them and was baffled by my preventing him from putting them to their rightful use. He loves to climb up and (if not prevented) behind things. Once back in the room he went high and stayed there, lazing happily atop in one of the comfy beds up in cagetop land.   Health concern: think we need to clean his ears, and that it'll be a two-person job. They must be bothering him, or he wdn't have those self-inflicted scratches on both temples. Hard to see anything in his ears, given how black his fur is, but think he's going to keep trying to scratch that itch until we can swab them out. 
Mr. SCRUFFS was also vocal on his walk, and didn't seem to enjoy himself at all. Afraid he didn't have a v. good day all round; stayed in his cage for the most part, and was v. reluctant even to let me clean it, though he didn't mind when Ramses came in and used his dirt-box, not even when Mr. R. accidently tipped it over and made quite a mess. Have to figure out some way to get him some one-on-one attention before he withdraws too much, but I'm not having much luck so far.
As for the newcomers, all three are friendly cats. BONFILIA, our third solid black cat, is a momma cat found under a deck whose kittens have all been adopted and is now awaiting her own turn. She's quite roly-poly, but think that's probably from recent motherhood. 'Bonfilia' sounds to me like a medicine for osteoporosis, so I've decided to call her BOUILLABAISSE (boo-lee-base).  She had what must have been her first walk ever, to judge from her reaction to it (may even have been her first time with a collar on). So we took it slow, practicing in the room first before going out the door, and didn't stay out long. She purred when we came back in, and hugged the pillar supporting one of the cat-stands, like an uneasy flyer kissing the ground after a storm-tossed flight. She then proceeded to show the rest of the cats who's boss.   It turns out Bouillabaisse loves the laser-pointer. She and Ramses had quite a game of pursuing that evil little red dot, with Scruffs monitoring the situation from inside his cage and occasionally contributing a swipe. Mostly she likes to hang out near the door.   Eating: her food dish was completely empty; she may still be eating to feed kittens she no longer has. She loves wet food (as do the other two newer cats, Ramses and Faye; the two older cats don't). Mr. RAM (RAMSES) looks something like a Maine Coon, but think that's more a case of Maine Cools being descended from fluffy brown cats like him. He's not nearly as big as he looks, under all that fur. He attracted a lot of attention, and no wonder: he's a flat-out beautiful cat. He was very scared but well-behaved on his walk, and keep pretty good track of where he was and how to get back to the room.    He loves the laser pointer, but his favorite game is the ping-pong ball. He'll crouch down behind the cat-stand near the door and swat at them as they roll by, sometimes emerging to chase one down the room. He'll keep this up as long as he can keep me playing along on my end.   Health concern: His dirt box was tipped over, making a huge mess in his cage. His water dish was all gummed up with wet litter. Pretty sure this was an accident; he's heavy enough that when he perches on the side it tips the whole thing half-over. I know because I saw him do it: while I was cleaning up his cube he went into Mr. Scruff's cage and used his box, and it tipped over too. Can we get back the high-sided litter box we've used from time to time? Think that's heavy enough that it wdn't be a problem.
Our third new cat, FAYE, did best of all concerning walks. Think she's a calm cat and nothing much throws her, yet she's also quite shy and wants a nice safe spot, away from the other cats (the top of a cat-stand worked just fine). She looks like she's had a hard life; helped her clean the sleep out of her eyes and also got most of the chin-acne off. Her ears need attention, but I didn't get to that yet -- as with Kaboodle, may be a two-person job (though think she'll take it better than he will). She didn't play any games but enjoyed being out of her cage and also the occasional attention (petting, &c). 

We had lots of visitors, some of whom wanted to come in and pet the cats, other who wanted to know more about them. 
N.B.: the older batch of cats (Kaboodle & Scruffy) don't like wet catfood, but the newer cats (Bouillabaisse, Ramses, and Faye) certainly do.
health concerns: Kaboodle's ichy earsFaye needs help cleaning her eyes and chin. also ears.Ram needs the high-walled dirt box. knocked his over, and later in the morning tipped over Scruff's as well. 
--John R

*thanks to Cher for posting pictures of "Angelo" (Denali) and "Angelina" (Sequoia) in their new homes today; glad to see them relaxed and happy in their new surroundings. Hope Sequoia finds the towel cupboard in short order.

I am Interviewed for a Podcast (Geek Nation)

So, Thursday I had the interesting experience of visiting a radio station for the first time in years,* thanks to the good folks at KOBOLD setting up an interview w. me to discuss my contribution to the KOBOLD GUIDE TO MAGIC (out next month). So if you'd like to listen to ten minutes of me very much outside my normal environs (e.g., among talk radio DJs). My segment starts about two minutes in and runs for about eleven minutes; we talk about my essay ("Tolkien and Magic") and its theory about the Three Magics (Learned, Channelled, and Innate), about the new HOBBIT movies, and about magic in a roleplaying game setting. Here's the link:

http://media.kisw.com/a/87634817/bjgn-02-18-14-magic-star-wars.htm

In the meantime, here's a sneak preview of my piece posted on the KOBOLD website a few weeks ago:

http://www.koboldpress.com/k/front-page17424.php#.UwFJm-By_zI

Enjoy!

--John R.

*aside from an interview for the local Wheaton College radio station a few years back, in connection with MR. BAGGINS, it called up childhood memories of the time, back before I was in first grade, when my father did some moonlighting from his college teaching at Monticello and for a while was a disk jockey at a radio station in another not too-distant town (Warren, I think, though it's been a long time ago and I can't be sure). I remember being much taken with the ticker-tape machine, the only time I think I've seen one, which delivered news bulletins. I don't remember what music my father played, but if he got to choose it then it would have been his two idols, Hank Williams and Roger Miller (both of whom were big influences on his own songwriting).