Walt Trizna's Blog, page 69
January 21, 2019
the grim count…
Read and think of the past and the present. Not beautiful but is there.
scrape the surface
of
ancient layers
of
life’s mud
and then
clear away
broken remnants
of history
from
hope’s vacant lot
a lot
strewn
with
the trash
of
shredded lies
and
uncover
the specter
of
mass murder
human
sacrifices
children
buried
in shallow graves
violent
sacrifices
to
an array
of
gods
gods
all
cast
in the image
of
those
who declare
that
their
god
is
the
only
true god
gods
that are
wrapped
in
patriotic
or
religious
flags
godly causes
less
than divine
and
perhaps
more
commercial
or
ego based
thus
one must
gently brush away
the loose sand
of
alibis
to
expose
the skeletal remains
hidden in
the mass burial sites
sites
in
palestine
yemen
sudan
and
along
the
american border
where
one sees
the splayed
bodies
of
children
victims
offered
in
carefully orchestrated
acts
of
ritual sacrifice
to
appease
human greed
January 20, 2019
another case of denial…
A great piece. The truth is beyond imagination.
used as war’s weapons
depleted uranium
children’s cancer deaths
said not to be related
as was smoking cigarettes
January 19, 2019
Updates: Recent Science Fiction Acquisitions No. CCI (Le Guin + Van Herck + Leinster + High + Analog Anthology)
Past science fiction from one who loves science fiction.
Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations
1. I’ve acquired quite a few vintage SF novels and short story collections in translation over the last few weeks–here’s one from Paul Van Herck, a Belgian author who wrote in Dutch. Not the cheapest DAW books edition I’ve encountered….
2. I always want more Le Guin…. Here, a series of linked short stories set in a fantasy world.
3. This Analog Annual anthology contains the only publication of P. J. Plauger’s novel Fighting Madness. Plauger won the John Campbell Award for Best New Science Fiction Writer before fading from the scene.
4. I love vintage SF. I do not love Ace Doubles. Yes, they published a few PKD novels that are worth reading, but, on the whole, their quality was quite low. This was a gift from a family friend and one of the very few Ace Doubles I’ve been looking for — mostly due to Philip E…
View original post 743 more words
January 15, 2019
Fragment(s): Monday Maps and Diagrams (Science Fiction) 1/14/19 — Alan Dean Foster’s Voyage to the City of the Dead (1984)
I love maps that accompany books.
Especially if the land in the story does not exist.
Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations
Monday Maps and Diagrams 1/14/19
A tantalizing title—Voyage to the City of the Dead (1984)–made all the more mysterious by two wonderful maps. The first charts a lengthy winding river stretching from the north pole past the equator. The second, a cross section illustrating the elevation of the river’s vast canyon….
I’m almost compelled to pick up the book! Although I’ve had little luck with Alan Dean Foster’s SF in the past. Thoughts?
The Maps (click to enlarge):
View original post 163 more words
January 14, 2019
becoming nothing…
A great reflection on reality.
as a child
he had watched
the story
of pinocchio
and
had giggled
at
the thought
of
one’s nose
growing
with
each lie
told
indeed
he had tested
the
hypotheses
and
found
no evidence
to
support it
so
when
he joined
government
he had no qualms
about
lying
to his constituency
such
betrayal
was part
of
his future plans
for
becoming
one
of
life’s emperors
but
with each lie told
the embodiment
of
the person
the
public
had elected
slowly
became
invisible
like pieces
removed
from
a chess board
his
endgame
January 5, 2019
Updates: Recent Science Fiction Acquisitions No. CXCIX (Ursula K. Le Guin + Cordwainer Smith + M. P. Shiel + John Varley)
This is a blog which keeps alive past science fiction.
Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations
1. Ursula K. Le Guin’s novella, The Word for World is Forest, first appeared in Harlan Ellison’s Again, Dangerous Visions (1972) anthology before a stand-alone publication. I seem to remember reading it as a kid…. But…. the memories are vague.
2. Cordwainer Smith and I have never really seen eye to eye (I wanted to rhyme). I’m all for acquiring more of his collections just in case!
3. From Wikipedia: “H. G. Wells lauded [M. P. Shiel’s] The Purple Cloud as ‘brilliant’ and H. P. Lovecraft later praised the novel as exemplary weird fiction, ‘delivered with a skill and artistry falling little short of actual majesty.'”
The Richard Powers cover is one of his best of the 60s.
4. John Varley, another author whom I’ve yet to read despite owning numerous of his collections and novels…. Millennium (1983) seems, well, suspicious? Time travel, airplanes, dystopic futures, love affairs across…
View original post 705 more words
impeachable acts…
I love the intelligence of Aunt Bea.
when
i checked
on
aunt bea
to see
if she was having
any problems
she said
it seems to me
that
you’re
the one
who’s got
problems
today
so
i told
aunt bea
that
although
i knew our nation
has had
a history
of blaming
asylum seeking
or
those
just different
from
the majority
for
its
inherent problems
i still found
the current cultural melee
in the country
quite upsetting
especially
in light
of the deaths
of
innocent children
without
comforting
parental arms
aunt bea
said
when your mother
was cleaning houses
for
rich folks
she would
always get upset
if someone
would
carelessly
walk across
the floors
she has just mopped
especially
before
they dried
even
though
she knew
they would
need to be cleaned
again
next week
i guess
she felt
that
such actions
symbolized
disrespect
disrespecting
the efforts of others
to
make things
right
hmm
seems
you…
View original post 11 more words
January 3, 2019
Updates: My 2018 in Review (Best SF Novels, Best SF Short Fiction, and Bonus Catagories)
For those who enjoy science fiction of the past, you owe it to yourself to follow this blog.
Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations
Post-academia depression hits hard…. While completing my PhD (defended in the summer of 2017), reading SF and writing about SF was the way I kept sane. After multiple mostly unsuccessful years on the academic market, I have changed gears career-wise (although I’m still affiliated with a university and teaching college-level history courses but without the research component) and it has been a liberating experience. My history obsessions remain, even stronger in many ways, and academic monographs on all the topics that I wanted to read about but never could—Hellenistic successor states to Alexander, Early Islam, Late Antique and Medieval Persia, etc.–have dominated my time and pocketbook 2018 (don’t ask how much I’ve spent). I have included a “Best Academic History Reads of 2018” section for the curious.
At the beginning of November, I was moments from announcing that I was on hiatus for the foreseeable future. However, I have fallen…
View original post 1,388 more words
welcome to 2019…
No need to say more.
it’s new year’s first day
29,000 children died
each minute today
will prayers be your offering
or will their blood bring action
prime time tv deity…
This says it all. Unfortunately.
like those
who built
the tower
of
babel
he wants
to
build
a wall
not to reach
god
but
to
become
god
his wall’s
to
be built
from
the ground bones
of
freedom
mortared
with the blood
of
children
children
crushed
by
the weight
of
intolerance
and
ignorance
this monument
to
his pride
will assure
that
those
in this nation
will
never
understand others
in
the world
and surely
his
wall
will scatter
hatred
and
inhumanity
