Sue Lange's Blog, page 13

To Ban or Not to Ban

Book View Cafe is posting banned books essays at their blog all this week in honor of American Libraries Association’s Banned Books Week. Below is what I posted on Monday.

What exactly is “banning” anyway? Is it a law, an attitude, a way of thinking? Or is it something more sinister than that such as advice and etiquette from Miss Manners? As near as I can tell it’s many different things, but in general it has something to do with books that are objectionable. According to the American Library Association’s list of classically banned books, there are different reasons for taking such extreme measures. Usually it has something to do with graphic depictions of sex, although a book won’t get banned just for that. Only if it becomes popular will the book then be banned.

Usually what happens is parents get together and decide some previously innocuous text known and beloved of teachers around the world is inappropriate for their kids. They demand that a book not be taught in the classroom, or that it not be available in the school’s library, or if it is available, a child is not allowed to check it out without parental consent.

On one hand, I believe parents have a right to restrict access to materials they deem objectionable. I remember parents. I had a couple when I was growing up. Back then most parents had never read any of the books on ALA’s list. Our parents didn’t care what we read; they were ignorant of the power of the pen. A bunch of us read those books, though, and apparently something made it through the haze of marijuana smoke. When we grew up we remembered reading scenes of depravity and bestiality. We were ashamed and couldn’t face ourselves in the mirror. We didn’t want that to happen to our own children.

I’m not sure how these books could have scarred us. Aren’t most of them incomprehensible to the average high school scholar? They probably don’t really get Call of the Wild (yes, it’s on the list) or Lord of the Flies. The listed books are just nice little adventure stories. Thin on plot in some cases. Can a kid even get through Grapes of Wrath? It’s a longish book and not a lot happens in it. If I remember correctly there’s a whole chapter describing the color and texture of Route 66. Not the scenery along the roadside either, but the actual macadam.

The point is the objection to these books seems to be not with plot or theme, but with a bit of explicit sex or a couple of cuss words. The latter seems to be the most troublesome. For some religions, four letter words, especially those involving G*d are a definite no no. Trying to teach your children that adults don’t use that kind of language must be exasperating enough given TV and movies, but damn near impossible when it’s right there in black and white for a kid to go back to over and over again like they like to do with the dictionary.

So a group doesn’t want their kids exposed to that. I understand. It’s their loss. Personally I think kids should be forced to read books like 1984 and Brave New World. Mostly because they’re intelligent science fiction and people need a dose of that to offset Hollywood’s idea of our genre. But that’s just me.

Then there are books like Lolita. I think a lot of people miss the point here. I remember the lascivious looks college boys gave each other when mentioning the title. Honestly I think they were referring to Kubrick’s movie which I’m pretty sure missed the point. Yes, I know Kubrick is a genius, but sometimes he seems like a frat boy. Anyway because of those college boys’ reaction I always assumed Lolita was some story about a hopelessly beautiful nymphomaniac that tempts an older gentlemen.

Imagine my surprise when I finally read the book. Yes the college boys missed the point. And I wonder if high school kids would get it that the main character, the protagonist we have been trained since we started reading to identify with, is a twisted predator, loathsome and deserving of what he gets in the end. Humbert Humbert is not a tragic character. He is formed of the sludge found on the bottom of a not very well-drained farm pond. It’s hard to feel that way about the hero of a book. Will high school students get the importance and subtlety in this book? Probably not. Should they then not be exposed to it? Dunno.

Does it matter if children raised in certain religious groups are not exposed to thought-provoking literature? Maybe. Should people be allowed to live in their own world even if it means they have their head in the clouds? Yes. Will that hurt society as a whole. Probably. What can be done about it? Nothing. This is a free country, get over it. If the majority of parents in your school ban a book, it’s up to you to make it available to your kid at home. Oh, you need the power of the school curriculum to force it down your kids’ throat. Easily solved. If you feel your kids should read Lolita but your school won’t let them, do what my parents did when they wanted me to read something, shove it in the back of the bookshelf at home so it looks like they were hiding it.

Point is, censoring for sex and strong language is something parents do all the time. It’s sort of a non-issue. More disturbing is censorship based on theme; one group deciding what another group may think about. Even there, though I think you could make a case for censorship. Do you really want your kids watching Birth of a Nation or reading misogynistic, racist stuff? No. Unless—and here’s the biggee—putting these materials in the schools is exactly where you want them. And especially in the classroom. That is the place where discussion can take place. If a book or movie is banned it’s a sure way to make people, and especially kids, consume it. And if they consume it in some back alley, they will grow up taking the book’s reality at face value. They’ll no doubt totally miss any subtlety or depth the author brought. Put that filth, that racism, that depiction of narcissism gone bad in Lolita in a classroom—a laboratory, under a microscope—and the child will surely never take the content at face value. He or she will understand the subtleties. They will get it that you don’t want to hang around people like Humbert Humbert.

Then there’s the type of censorship that simply baffles. Both of Orwell’s famous titles, 1984 and Animal Farm, were banned because Orwell was supposedly a communist. That when these two books excoriated communism. You see why I’m worried about people missing the subtlety? These books are not subtle. Unless of course you think a two-by-four upside your head is a delicate way to get someone’s attention.

On the other hand, Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle was banned in Russia because it was “inimical to communism.” Here’s a serious piece of anti-capitalist propaganda written by an avowed socialist. Go figure.

Censorship can also be sad. To Kill a Mockingbird and Beloved are both considered objectionable because of their depictions of racism. This is when it becomes hard to make a judgment on banning. There is no way to write stories about racism without appearing racist, in my opinion. Racism is bad, no question, but we need to talk about it to get beyond it. And the best place to talk about it is the classroom.

And then there’s Ulysses. How can this book be banned? I mean, does anyone even know what it’s about? I’m amazed that somebody not only got through it but found some sex scenes in it. I got half-way through and gave up. All I ever got from it were a few pub discussions, a couple of parades, and a funeral. I had to read the CliffsNotes just to be able to map the story onto Homer’s Oddysey. Oh, they’re sirens, that’s why they were singing so much. I got lost in the scene changes across town, across time, and across characters. Ban it? Definitely, unless of course a translation is included.

Sue Lange
Sue Lange’s book, Tritcheon Hash, is full of hot sex, four-letter words, socialism, communism, fascism, racism, narcissistic misogyny, and capitalistic propaganda, and it’s for sale right here at good ol’ BVC.

New Science Fiction Anthology Due Next Year

I’m pleased to announce my participation in THE OTHER HALF OF THE SKY, a science fiction anthology slated for publication spring, 2013. The stories in this collection will feature female protagonists against a backdrop of space opera. They will include contributions from such writers as Martha Wells, Nisi Shawl, Joan Slonczewski, Ken Liu, and Jack McDevitt.

Athena Andreadis, one of the editors along with Kay Holt of Crossed Genres magazine, has a complete list of the contributors at her blog. She’s also posted opening paragraphs for the stories there. Take a look, leave a comment, put aside a little cash to buy the thing when it comes out next year.

For those that need to know: new kids on the publishing block, Candlemark & Gleam, are doing the honors. Watch their site for news.

And while you’re waiting, here’s the opening from Finders, by Melissa Scott:

“A thousand years ago the cities fell, fire and debris blasting out the Burntover Plain.  Most of the field was played out now, the handful of towns that had sprung up along the less damaged southern edge grown into three thriving and even elegant cities, dependent on trade for their technology now rather than salvage.  Cassilde Sam had been born on the eastern fringe of the easternmost city, in Glasstown below the Empty Bridge, and even after two decades of hunting better salvage in the skies beyond this and a dozen other worlds, the Burntover still drew her.”

Stay tuned! More to come.

Free Fiction at the Toucan

Mini lit emag, The Toucan, has posted my flash fiction story, MAKING THE SUN SHINE. It was “Prose of the week” back on the 24th, but it’s still up, and still free. Read it now: http://thetoucanonline.blogspot.com/2012/08/prose-of-week-making-sun-shine-sue-lange.html

Are You Curious?

Everyone’s curious about Curiosity. This little Mars rover has everyone excited in ways Spirit and Opportunity never did. It’s eclipsed the combined starshine of Mars 1-7, the Mariners, the Vikings, even Sojourner, the very first Mars rover. Why are we all gaga for Curiosity?

There are probably many reasons for Curiosity’s celebrity. First off the Internet makes it easy to find and read news of its activities. Spirit and Opportunity landed in 2004. Facebook was born a month later, too soon for it to be the gossip mongerer that creates the kind of fame Curosity enjoys. Twitter was just a twinkle in Jack Dorsey’s eye at that time. Sure, we had newsites galore in 2004, but none gave us the virality of social media.

I think it’s more than just the Internet’s ability to spread the word, though. I think people find Curiosity cute. People are getting used to non-humanoid robots endowed with personality. We find humanity in everything and we’re way beyond AI that has to look like Jude Law before we get cozy. Steampunk got us used to the warmth of brass and rivets. We have mechanical devices for avatars now. Characters from novels blog, so do pet rocks. It’s easy for us to find steel plates and laser beams cuddly these days. That wasn’t so true back in ’04.

IMHO, the real reason Curiosity is so popular is NASA’s unabashed search for life this time around. Certainly the search for ET has always been in the back of every mission’s mind from Mercury and Gemini all the way to Space Shuttle. It’s too important not to think about it. Finding signs of life beyond the beyond would be a game changer, as big as discovering the world is not only flat but not the center of the universe. Discovering life on worlds other than Earth would be the final nail in the coffin of the anthropocentric worldview.

If we can prove we are not alone, well…you fill in the blank; I dare not.

At any rate, NASA is no longer beating around the finding-life-as-a-reason-for-spending-the-taxpayer’s-money bush. Curiosity’s primary mission is to determine the habitability of Mars. Oh sure there are other goals: testing of the latest equipment, pushing the rover’s roving capabilities to the limit, and to be sure, determining habitability is not the same as finding a couple of microbes, even fossils of microbes. Knowing whether or not life could exist there, is not nearly as important as actually finding it. But so far Curiosity is the best bet so far for getting close to the brass ring.

We all want to know if Mars ever supported life. That fact would be a game changer. Nobel prizes have been awarded for less. And that’s why we’re all watching Curiosity’s progress.

I am as excited as everyone else. Here’s a short faq I put together searching for answers to my own questions:

1) When did it land? A: 5 August 2012.

2) What did it see once the smoke cleared? A: See the picture from from NASA’s website:



3) What has it been doing? A: Driving; Sampling the soil and Testing the weather; Extending its arm.

4) How long will Curiosity be on Mars? A: 23 months

5) What will it be doing in the coming months? A: Driving, sampling, testing, extending its arm.

6) What nationalities are involved: A: U.S., Spain, Russia, probably others I have no knowledge of.

7) What will happen to it when its mission is accomplished? It will continue to drive, sample, test, and extend until the harsh Martian elements destroy it.

To follow Curiosity’s exploits before the Martian Apocalypse turns it into a pile of rusty bits, tune in to the Twitter stream: @MarsCuriosity.

Thanks for reading,

Sue Lange

Sue Lange’s short story “Tige is the Man” is available for free at the Nature science journal site!

This essay was first posted at the Book View Cafe blog on August 28, 2012.

Nature Magazine’s Futures and Me

My story, TIGE IS THE MAN, has just been published in the Futures section of Nature Magazine. And it’s free to read online or download as a pdf.

Read it here: www.nature.com/nature/journal/v488/n7411/full/488424a.html

Mind Meld at sfsignal.com: Point of View in Genre fiction

I’m opinioning today at sfsignal on the subject of point of view in genre fiction. It’s a very serious topic and not to be taken lightly. You can imagine the results:

http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2012/08/mind-meld-point-of-view-in-genre-fiction-part-i-of-ii/

Here’s the question:

Q: As you see it. What are the strengths and weaknesses, for character, worldbuilding and setting in using 1st or 3rd person (or even 2nd?) Omniscient or limited? And how about the time frame of the tense, past or present or even future?

What kinds of Point of view do you prefer to write in? What types of POV do you like to read?

Here’s my answer: Incredible stories, (i.e. those not easily believed, (i.e. most of speculative fiction)) should always be told in the first person. Always.

It goes downhill from there. Check it out.

Announcing Free eBook: PremiumExistenceTM

Hey all, Book View Cafe is offering a free ebook of my PremiumExistenceTM short story. It’s a highly satirical piece. Think Onion, Mad Magazine, National Lampoon, that sort of thing. Help yourself for a limited time. I think it’s going into paid mode in September.

If you prefer, it’s free at Smashwords too.

“Princess Dancer” Teaser for the Teaser

I’m still on hiatus but I have put together some footage of the making of the Princess Dancer book teaser. Take a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rOtMg0r8KY

I’ve seen the rough touch of the actual short film and it looks great. The editor is doing a fabulous job.

Thanks to Tracy Schott Productions for providing that photo up at the top of this post.

Meanwhile the book, Beyond Grimm, that includes the Princess Dancer story is available at Amazon, Smashwords, and at Book View Cafe.

Book View Cafe Giveaway

I’m taking a break from blogging for a while, but I’m still active at Book View Cafe. This group of authors includes such folks as Ursula K. Le Guin, Laura Anne Gilman, Patricia Rice, Judith Tarr, Sherwood Smith, and a whole bunch more.

The great thing about BVC is they’ve recently revamped their bookstore. Which means their having a big hoopty do grand opening celebration with lots of…stuff. They’re discounting their anthologies and running a contest for some lucky person to win a free e-copy of his or her choice of BVC book.

The promotion runs until June 7 at the BVC website. You can get more information here: http://bookviewcafe.com/bookstore/grand-opening-celebration/

Basically, you enter the bookstore (http://www.bookviewcafe.com), browse around, find something that interests you. (Eligible titles are marked with a gold star.) Once you decide which BVC book you’d love to have more than anything else in the whole wide world, leave a comment telling BVC which book you want and why (you have to do both).

A bunch of members are also holding giveaways at their own sites. Here’s a list: Maya Kaathryn Bonhoff, Chaz Brenchley, Patricia Burroughs, Jeffrey Carver, Amy Sterling Casil, Laura Anne Gilman, Lois Gresh, Kit Kerr, Katharine Eliska Kimbriel, Kelly McClymer, Vonda N. McIntyre, Nancy Jane Moore, Linda Nagata, Pati Nagle, Steven Harper, Phyllis Irene Radford, Patricia Rice, Madeleine Robins, Deborah J. Ross, Sherwood Smith, Jennifer Stevenson, Judith Tarr, Dave Trowbridge. If you see any of your faves there, head over to their blogs to try and win something there as well.

I haven’t had time to put a contest together for this, but if anybody wants a free ecopy of any of my BVC titles: (We, Robots; Tritcheon Hash; Uncategorized; The Textile Planet) let me know and I’ll put something together. You can find info on my titles here: http://bookviewcafe.com/bookstore/bvc-author/sue-lange/.

Let the games begin!

Temporary Hiatus

Hey all, I’ve been on hiatus while working on the Princess Dancer short film. You can watch the progress at:

http://www.facebook.com/PrincessDancerProject

Or you can read the story (Princess Dancer) in Book View Cafe’s Beyond Grimm anthology (smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/158953 or Amazon: (http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Grimm-ebook/dp/B007XJR6AI/).

See you soon.