Serdar Yegulalp's Blog, page 163

Talk Down To Me Dept.

Yesterday's post brought some more thought to mind: Does becoming a "success" — however you might define that — make it all the more difficult, if not outright impossible, to speak truth to power? Or, for that matter, speak the truth at all?

One of the things that happens — maybe inevitably — when someone becomes widely recognized and vested with the power of authority, any authority, is that people don't see the person anymore. They see the authority, and they respond more to that than they...

Hey, It's A Living (Or Not) Dept.

Some great notes about writing for a living vs. living for writing:

Goods Versus Good » Zachary Bonelli

For me personally,I would rather extricate my personal need for income (and by proxy shelter, food, clothing, etc.) from my writing. Being able to do nothing but write doesn’t mean a damn thing if I don’t wholly believe in what it is I’m producing.

I've felt the same way for some time myself, and here's why.

I already write for a living — I just don't writefictionfor a living. For years now I'...

Jerk My Chain, Please! Dept.

One of the key tricks of propaganda — PR, advertising, or whatever — is to make the audience think whatever it is you're pushing was their idea all along. Don't just give the people what they want; give them whattheythinktheywant. The less they notice they are being manipulated, the better. And if they do notice it, just convince them you didn't so muchgive them any thoughts as you didawaken them.

I bring this up because I am noticing an alarming change in the way public manipulation of opini...

A Tonic For The Troops Dept.

And now, a shout-out. A bunch of them, actually.

If you were one of the folks who stopped by my table at AnimeFest and bought a book:thank you.

If you were one of the folks who stopped by my table at AnimeFest, took a flyer, and bought one of my books online afterwards:thank you.

I received my Amazon Kindle royalty statement this week. It wasn't a lot of money, but it was a sign that a few people are interested and curious. I hope they — you — stick around and check out what else I have to offer...

The Radical Politics Of Doing Nothing Dept.

Someone in my feed managed to post the single most offensive thing I've seen said about Ferguson et al. since the whole mess started. No, I won't repeat it. ("Whitesplaining" is the best term I can come up with to describe it.) My response to this has been to leave them the heck alone. Forever.

No, I'm not inclined to confront the person in question about this, in big part because I have never been very good at, nor particularly inclined to be good at, rubbing people's noses in their politics....

The Snore Of Reason Dept.

Books, Gadgets, and Freedom by Mario Vargas Llosa | Wilson Quarterly

It is not only the sleep of reason that can engender monsters, as Goya wrote in one of his etchings. Lucid, vigilant reason, when it flows freely, is just as capable of formulating impeccable theories on the inequality of human races; justifying slavery; proving the inferiority of women, the black, or the yellow, the innate evil of the Jew; legitimizing the extermination of the heretic; and supporting conquest, colonialism, a...

Guns And Butter Dept.

Books, Gadgets, and Freedom by Mario Vargas Llosa | Wilson Quarterly

... since there is no way of eradicating man’s destructive drive — which is the price he pays for the faculty of invention — we should try to direct it toward books instead of gadgets. Literature can mitigate this drive without much risk. ...Unlike the scientific civilization that has made us more fragile than our ancestors were before they learned to fight the tiger, under a literary civilization more impractical, passive, a...

Tout Comprendre C'est Tout Pardonner And All That Dept.

Guardians of the Galaxy Movie Review (2014) | Roger Ebert

I don’t [get defensive when reviewing comic book movies] because I’m afraid of getting death threats from easily irritated comic book fans (which hasn’t happened to me, and thanks). I do it because as someone who got a lot out of comics growing up, and still has a healthy respect for the graphic form, I find comic book movies kind of frustrating, and am bent out of shape by having my frustration chalked up to a lack of understanding of...

Self-Improvement Dept.

Been traveling, and will be hitting the road again soon. But first, a meditation on the idea that it doesn't matter what people read, as long as they read something:

Reading Upward by Tim Parks | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books

... much supposedly literary fiction also repeats weary formulas, while some novels marketed as genre fiction move toward the exploratory by denying readers the sameness the format led them to expect. And of course many literary writers have made hay “subverting”...

Also For A Limited Time Dept.

Remember that great interview I gave at the Two Geeks Talking podcast for Flight of the Vajra?

No?

... Go stand in the hall and hold these pails of water.

In all seriousness, I did a podcast interview with the TGT folks and it was great. Now I'm in a fight to come out on top in an Author Vs. Author battle, where all the folks who were interviewed on the show have their fans vote them to the top.

and search on "Flight of the Vajra" to vote. The winner will get, uh, bragging rights and a bu...