Amy H. Sturgis's Blog, page 154

Don't Mess With Firefly: You Can't Take My Speech From Me

Gacked from Ed Morrissey at Hot Air:

The great people at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) have a new video out this week recapping one of their most prominent victories over censorship in Academia — prominent because this case found a ready-made constituency of activists for individual rights. Fans of Firefly rushed to defend University of Wisconsin Professor James Miller after he was accused by campus police of creating a threatening environment by hanging a Firefly poster on his office door, a case in which FIRE prevailed. The video interviews Neil Gaiman and delivers a serious message:



Kudos to Nathan Fillion and Adam Baldwin for coming to Professor Miller's defense, and especially to my fellow fans of Firefly and Serenity, but the serious point made in this video is that free speech should always have a constituency. Still, I do love Neil Gaiman's point here:

"There are people you do not want to upset in the world. And big groups of people you don't want to upset would obviously include the politically disenfranchised who feel they have nothing to lose. And those that feel that the time has come for revolution. Then out on the edges beyond any of those are science fiction and fantasy fans whose favorite show has been cancelled in an untimely way."

FYI, FIRE has a contest for the most creative tweets promoting this new video, with $500 in prizes for the winners.

YA Dystopian Novel List

I've updated and overhauled my working list of young adult dystopian fiction. Please let me know if you see a title I've missed. Thanks so much!

Happy happy! Joy joy!

I hope all of you enjoy a wonderful holiday, whatever holiday you celebrate. Be merry, be safe, and have fun! I am grateful for each of you, my friends.




Here's a verse for the season:

"A Brumalian Wish"
by "Edward John Ambrose Bierce Theobald," a.k.a. H.P. Lovecraft

From the damnable shadows of madness,
From the corpse-ridden hollow of Weir,
Comes a horrible message of gladness,
And a ghost-guided poem of cheer -
And a gloom-spouting pupil of Poe sends the pleasantest wish of the year!

May the ghouls of the neighboring regions,
And the curséd necrophagous things,
Lay aside their dark habits in legions,
For the bliss that Brumalia brings -
And may Druids innum'rable bless thee, as they dance on the moor's fairy-rings!

So, Galba, may pleasures attend thee
Thro' all thy bright glorious days;
May the world and the mighty commend thee,
And the cosmos resound with thy praise -
And may all future ages be brilliant with the light of thine intellect's rays!


PS. To all of you who have sent such lovely holiday wishes and goodies by mail and email, as well as everyone who has posted holiday greetings, thank you for your thoughtfulness!

It's Hobbit Time, 'Nuff Said

Here's the official poster.

And the trailer:

Happy Tuesday

Happy Tuesday!

How do you turn a Christmas tree into a Cthulhu tree? Add tentacles!

Librivox has new unabridged narrations of particular interest:
* the class Gothic novel The Monk: A Romance by Matthew Lewis (1795)
* the classic science fiction novel In The Days of the Comet by H.G. Wells (1906)

In other news, here are my first two convention confirmations for the new year. I'll be an author guest at the following 2012 cons:
* StellarCon 36
* ConCarolinas

Our course outline for the Spring 2012 "Taking Harry Seriously: The Artistry and Meanings of the Harry Potter Saga" class, offered online for audit or M.A. credit, is now available here at the Mythgard Institute website, as is the outline for Corey Olsen's "The Making of Myth: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien" course.



International registration is now open through January 13, 2012. More information is available here at The Mythgard Institute.


"For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice."
- T.S. Eliot

What shall we hang - the holly or each other?

Happy Friday!

* My most recent StarShipSofa "Looking Back on Genre History" segment, the second of a two-parter that discusses the history of the 2012 "doomsday" phenomenon, is now available in the latest episode of the podcast. You can download it or listen to it here or via iTunes. (The first part is here.) If you listen, I hope you enjoy. (A full list of my past podcast segments, with links, is available here.)

* The new poster for The Hunger Games is amazing! (Thanks to cookiefleck .)

* There's more news about the 1977 Girl Scout Murders (you can see my pasts posts on the subject here). The filmmaker who is creating the new movie about it has named the man he claims confessed to the murders. The writer and director of the upcoming movie Candles said that convicted murderer Karl Lee Myers, who is currently serving a first-degree murder conviction on death row in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, is the killer of the three Girl Scouts who were raped and murdered at Camp Scott in 1977. Read the article from The Cherokee Phoenix here: "Director Names Alleged Girl Scouts Killer in Movie. (PS. If Wes Studi really has sent a letter of intent with regard to the film, that will lend all kinds of credibility to it. Hmmm.)

On a lighter note...



"The lakes of ice gleam bluer than the lakes
Of water 'neath the summer sunshine gleamed:
Far fairer than when placidly it streamed,
The brook its frozen architecture makes,
And under bridges white its swift way takes.
Snow comes and goes as messenger who dreamed
Might linger on the road; or one who deemed
His message hostile gently for their sakes
Who listened might reveal it by degrees.
We gird against the cold of winter wind
Our loins now with mighty bands of sleep,
In longest, darkest nights take rest and ease,
And every shortening day, as shadows creep
O'er the brief noontide, fresh surprises find."
- Helen Hunt Jackson, A Calendar of Sonnets: December

this and that

Each year I appreciate the TCM Remembers montage that recalls the actors/directors/screenwriters and other film professionals who passed during the year. I found this to be a very poignant one indeed. Here's TCM Remembers 2011:




In other news...

* Huge thanks to everyone who has sent me cards this holiday season! I've been loving them, and I appreciate your thoughtfulness.

* China Glaze (my favorite brand of nail polish!) will have a whole new collection available in March inspired by The Hunger Games! (For those of you who don't mind TMI, my favorite manicure look this year is China Glaze's Sea Spray beneath Black Mesh Crackle.)

* Some of the Joss Whedon acafen among you may find this call for papers of interest: Call for Papers: Joss Whedon and Theology.

* Happy early birthday wishes to tuilelindowen , whswhs , arkhamdenizen , irisbleufic , ievil_spock_47i , cyloran , and mamomo . May all of you enjoy wonderful birthdays and terrific years to come!


How did it get so late so soon?
It's night before it's afternoon.
December is here before it's June.
My goodness how the time has flewn.
How did it get so late so soon?
- Dr. Seuss

Retrospective, Cont'd: Sherlockian Pastiche Reading

FYI, an update about reading Sherlock Holmes pastiches...

A year ago, I asked for recommendations of Sherlock Holmes pastiches and received great replies. (Thank you!) I waited until I'd finished going through all of Arthur Conan Doyle's canonical Holmesian writings in order, but now I've embarked on my pastiche reading. I'm still only "baby steps" into the project, but I thought I'd list the novels I've read thus far, ranked in order from my most favorite to my least favorite. My reviews are general, and though they may contain a few spoilers about the premise of a given work, they don't give away any twist endings or key surprises.

There's a new entry on my list since the last time I posted an update!


Novels

Most Favorite Novel Thus Far:
Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson by Lyndsay Faye (2009)
Read my review.

The Mycroft Memoranda by Ray Walsh (1985)
Read my review.

The Last Sherlock Holmes Story by Michael Dibdin (1978)
Read my review.

The House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel by Anthony Horowitz (2011)
Read my review.

The Whitechapel Horrors by Edward B. Hanna (1992)
Read my review.

Sherlock Holmes and the Seven Deadly Sins Murders by Barry Day (2002)
Read my review.

The West End Horror: A Posthumous Memoir of John H. Watson, M.D. by Nicholas Meyer (1976)
Read my review.

The Seven-Percent Solution: Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D. by Nicholas Meyer (1974)
Read my review.

Sherlock Holmes and the Apocalypse Murders by Barry Day (2001)
Read my review.

The Canary Trainer: From the Memoirs of John H. Watson by Nicholas Meyer (1993)
Read my review.

Lestrade and the Ripper by M.J. Trow (1999)
Read my review.

Sherlock Holmes: The Rediscovered Railway Mysteries and Other Stories by John Taylor (2010)
Read my review.


I had difficulty ranking The West End Horror and The Seven-Percent Solution, as they were rather neck-and-neck for me. I'd recommend all of these except Trow's and Taylor's to fans of Holmes in general, but I'd still recommend Taylor's to those specifically who are fans of Benedict Cumberbatch.


Collections

The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes edited by John Joseph Adams (2009)
Read my review.

Next up: I'm finishing the collection Sherlock Holmes in Orbit, edited by Mike Resnick and Martin H. Greenberg (1995), and soon moving on to Sherlock Holmes Through Time and Space, edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, and Charles G. Waugh (1986).


Other

In the novella/novelette category, I've read and thoroughly enjoyed "The Adventure of the Elusive Emeralds" (a poignant mystery with terrific Watson characterization, in particular, in Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine #4 ) and "The Adventure of the Haunted Bagpipes" (a truly chilling mystery with a very real and disturbing threat to Holmes and Watson in Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine #5 ), both by Carla Coupe (aka beledibabe ). I highly recommend them. Next I'm planning to read "The Book of Tobit" in Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine #6 .

"Now, Watson, the fair sex is your department."
- Sherlock Holmes, "The Adventure of the Second Stain," Arthur Conan Doyle

Happy Friday! And 2011 Retrospective: Publications

Happy Friday! A few random bits...

* Several friend have posted this news. If you have four-legged family members, please check it out: Purina pet food has started making dogs and cats ill.

* Last weekend the fantastic DarkCargo had a wonderful AtHomeCon, and I was interviewed about my upcoming "Taking Harry Seriously: The Artistry and Meanings of the Harry Potter Saga" graduate course at the Mythgard Institute.

* If you love SF genre history as I do, don't miss Jess Nevins' series at io9, which speculates about which works might have received the Hugo Awards if they'd started back in the 1880's rather than the 1950's. Here are the "Victorian Hugos" thus far: 1885, 1886, 1887, and 1888.


It's that time when I start thinking about the year in retrospect. It probably will take me several posts to get this out of my system(!), but here's a start:


My Publications in 2011

"In Search of Fringe's Literary Ancestors"
in Fringe Science: Parallel Universes, White Tulips and Mad Scientists
Kevin R. Grazier, ed., Smart Pop Books

"'Just Get Us a Little Further': Liberty and the Frontier in Firefly and Serenity"
in The Philosophy of Joss Whedon
Dean Kowalski and S. Evan Kreider, eds., University Press of Kentucky

"Reimagining 'Magic City': How the Casts Mythologize Tulsa"
in Nyx in the House of Night: Mythology, Folklore, and Religion in the P.C. and Kristin Cast Vampyre Series
P.C. Cast, ed., Smart Pop Books

"Top Ten 'Must Read' Time Travel Works"
in StarShipSofa Stories Volume 3
Tony C. Smith, ed., StarShipSofa

"H.P. Lovecraft and the Imaginative Tale," Part 1 and Part 2 in Revolution Science Fiction (August)


Works Written in 2011 to be Published in 2012

"If This Is The (Final) Frontier, Where Are The Natives?"
in Star Trek and History
Nancy Reagin, ed., Wiley Blackwell

"Native America and the Prisoner's Dilemma"
in The Enterpri$er (Month TBD)

The Demon of Brockenheim; or The Enchanted Ring by Anonymous (1877)
(Edited, Annotated, and Introduced by Yours Truly), Udolpho Books


Proposal Accepted, to be Written and Published in 2012

"From Both Sides Now: Lois McMaster Bujold and the Fan Fiction Phenomenon"
in Forward Momentum: The Science Fiction and Fantasy of Lois McMaster Bujold
Janet B. Croft, ed., McFarland


The quotes for the day are two passages I particularly loved from Barry Day's Sherlock Holmes and the Seven Deadly Sins Murders (my review is here).

[Holmes, Watson, and Lestrade at 221B]
How often had the three of us sat here like this, I reflected, while events grave and gay, some of them affecting the highest in the land, were unfolding around us. How often had the decisions we had arrived at in this room changed the lives of hundreds, even though they were never to be aware of it?

We were an ill-sorted trio. Holmes, thin and angular, perched in his chair at a moment like this, as if ready to take flight. Lestrade, small, almost - if I'm honest - ferrety but as tenacious as any of that under-rated species when he had determined his target. And me - how did I view myself? A middle-aged ex-soldier of no particular distinction with a war wound that played up in the damp weather. And yet that remarkable man, Holmes had told me on more than one occasion that I completed him - so who was I to argue. Certainly the three of us had survived more than a few adventures together and it seemed as though we were about to embark upon another.


[Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes talking]
"...the strangest thing of all is that, deep down, they are the closest of friends. The need each other. The one defines the other."

"Rather like Watson and myself?" said Holmes and I fancy he was only half joking, which pleased me more than a little.

Mycroft let the remark pass.

Are You My Mummy?

What a fantastic exhibit I've just seen! In fact, it's the largest exhibition of mummies (both naturally and intentionally preserved) and related artifacts ever assembled. There were ancient mummies and important artifacts from Asia, Oceania, South America, Europe, and ancient Egypt dating as far back as 6,500 years, presented with the latest insights gained from CT scans and other tests. If you find yourself anywhere near one of the cities hosting the Mummies of the World exhibit, don't miss it. It did my historian's heart good.

Here's a preview:




In other news, here are a couple of indie science fiction film recs:

* Lunopolis (2009)
Two documentary filmmakers accidentally uncover the greatest moon secret the world has never known and the powerful organization determined to keep it that way. A very clever premise, well realized!

* Zenith (2010)
More ambitious and less successful than Lunopolis, this is a retro-futuristic steampunk thriller about two men in two time periods whose search for the same grand conspiracy leads them to question their own humanity. It's not as sophisticated as I suspect its creators thought it was, but this is still very much worth a watch for its convincing take on a dystopian future.


Happy birthday to tuesday_darling , and happy early birthday to juliakarr , janellemadigan , janellemadigan , mguibord , and gypsyjr . May you each enjoy a wonderful day and a fantastic year to come!


You darkness, that I come from,
I love you more than all the fires
that fence in the world,
for the fire makes
a circle of light for everyone,
and then no one outside learns of you.

But the darkness pulls in everything;
shapes and fires, animals and myself,
how easily it gathers them!—
powers and people—
and it is possible a great energy
is moving near me.
I have faith in nights.

- Rainer Maria Rilke, "On Darkness"