John C. Wright's Blog, page 225

Feminine Magic and the Liberated Woman

Two comments on an ongoing discussion, one from Belriose, one from Jackaroonie:

Belriose  asks: "The link on your logic that I'm missing since the beginning is why a society who doesn't emphasize the difference between sexes leads to depravation, sexual degeneration and child murdering. You were establishing that correlation, were you not?"

At last, a question I can follow! (Keep in mind that, since I am an intellectual and a philosopher, really basic and obvious questions pass me by. I am not sur

On a Lighter Note

Here is a quote from John Nolte, the 'Dirty Harry' of conservative film: 

There are certain words that when spotted in a film title immediately earn my goodwill, one of them being piranha. Others include: death, aliens, snake, Navarone, vampire, women (when the context involves prison), guns, blood, gladiator, wizard, monkey, Tarzan, hot rod, zombie, and for some strange reason, frogmen.
 Myself, I have a similar feeling about science fiction books. My certain words or phrases which instantly earn

What was the Question Again, exactly?

Belriose seems to have a question about the eternal war between the sexes, but I cannot parse her (or his, or its -- on the web One Never Knows, Do One?) meaning. This is part of an ongoing discussion that began here.

Belriose says: "I already asked: I wonder why you seem to assume that everything that doesn't fulfill the traditional roles is necesarly bad and devoided of the virtues of the old conceptions about romance or family."

This is not a question, but a rhetorical statement. I made no comm

Dying Earth Givaway!

(ht to grrm ) Want to be the first kid on your block to read all the swell stories in our Jack Vance tribute anthology, SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH??

Well, here's your chance. Pat's Fantasy Hotlist is doing it again, offering up an Advanced Reading Copy of the gorgeous Subterranean Press edition, illustrated by Tom Kidd.



To check out the details of the contest, go to:

http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/2009/04/win-advance-reading-copy-of-songs-of.html

Good luck. And remember, cheaters will be blasted

More on Ravishment!

Someone asked which Blackstone I was quoting for my definition. This is from COMMENTARIES, Book Four (Public Wrongs) Chapter XV (Of Offenses Against the Person of Individuals) sections III.

I quote it here in full because of the inherent interest in the subject. One can trace the evolution of the elements of the crime of rape away from a property crime against the father of the victim to a crime against the victim herself. The term 'civil law' is a term of art, and refers to the Roman law.

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University of Maryland Rides the Beast with Seven Heads and Ten Horns

Belriose remarks:

"I just don't see why you seem to assumme that feminity [sic:] is the top value that always a man is looking for in a woman."

Top value? Perhaps not. A value? Certainly.

Who wants to marry a woman who will not make a good mother to his children? Does he want a gentle and patient women to raise his kids, or a harsh, competitive, and aggressive one? I have seen women who compete with the children for attention, and it is an ugly sight, as well as being unfeminine.

And what wife want

Fight like a Cornered Cat

In a recent discussion about, of all things, Dante's INFERNO, video games, batgirl, and women in action films, an interesting paradox came up:

Modern women are supposed to be as violent and aggressive as men (see, for example, the popularity of Buffy, Xena, Wonder Woman, or Trinity) but are supposed to look like dewy-lipped glamour models, dressed alluringly (in either a short skirt, leather bikini, a red-white-and-blue swimsuit with high heeled boots, or skintight black leather respectively).

Legimimacy in Law, or, the Invasion of the Cola Commandos

Badiun proposes that, in my novel THE GOLDEN AGE, the Hortators, and the Sophotechs, formed a sort of hidden government, because they employed their considerable powers of persuasion to persuade people. I pointed out that the persuasion was non-coercive, ergo non-governmental. he replied that all governments are ultimately non-coercive, since government rests on the consent of the governed. I accused him of propounding a paradox: that law was the same as non-law. At this point, I need more space

FEDERATIONS Available for Pre-Order!

If you would like to read my novelette 'Twilight of the Gods' or peruse any of the other fine examples of scientifictional wonder appearing in the anthology FEDERATIONS, edited by John Joseph Adams, now is the time to buy! This handsome volume is on sale now, available for pre-order.

You can get it from the editor: http://www.johnjosephadams.com/federations

From Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Federations-John-Joseph-Adams/dp/1607012014/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238643922&sr=8-1

Or from Barnes

A non-review of ANATHEM, PLAYER OF GAMES, ENDLESS THINGS

This is not a book review. This is me wondering if I have gotten too old or too over-read to read SF books any more. The last three SF books (or SF-flavored books) I read were very well written, the product of enormous craft and talent on the part of the authors (whom any honest judge will tell you are more talented than yours truly), and yet, by the time I reached the end, I felt either indifferent, disappointed, or cheated.

Honestly, I doubt that my disappointment is due to any defect on the p