Lena’s Comments (group member since Nov 17, 2014)

Lena’s comments from the Spells, Space & Screams: Collections & Anthologies in Fantasy, Science Fiction, & Horror group.

This was technically three stars but the good stories were great and memorable - four stars!

Verthandi’s Ring by Ian McDonald DNF
”The Chamber of Ever-Renewing Waters, the military council, together with the Deep Blue Something, the gestalt übermind that was the Heart-world’s participatory democracy...”
Dude, you’re trying too hard to be weird.

Seven Years From Home by Naomi Novik
★★★★☆
Solarpunk society with teeth. A diplomat/anthropologist from a powerful Muslim(ish) confederacy of planets embeds herself with a sustainable eco friendly genetically altered native society. She is sad but resigned to their being wiped out by capitalist forces. Well the natives are not benign and they will not let themselves be wiped out. The wet blanket narrator did not approve but f*ck her. I would have stayed.

Author’s Note Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 (1/28/1973) ★★★½☆
An introduction to his book about the Nixon re-election campaign. He had trouble with deadlines throughout the year but made use of a newfangled technology called a fax machine to get his work in on time.

The Wayfarer’s Advice by Melinda Snodgrass DNF
Dislikable people in a love story with too many characters.

Presenting: The Richard Nixon Doll (Overhauled 1968 Model) Pageant (July 1968) ★★★★☆
“I went to New Hampshire expecting to find a braying ass, and I came away convinced that Richard Nixon has one of the best minds in politics.”

On the campaign trail Thompson had some quality time with Nixon and was surprised by the man’s political acumen and his love of football. Mostly the article is about the subtle changes Nixon made to his image.

“Granted, the “new Nixon” is more relaxed, wiser, more mellow. But I recognize the man who told a student audience at the University of New Hampshire that one of his biggest problems in politics has always been “that I’m not a good actor, I can’t be phony about it, I still refuse to wear makeup …” Three weeks later this same man, after winning the New Hampshire primary, laughingly attributed his victory to the new makeup he’d been wearing. He thought he was being funny—at least on one level—but on another level he was telling the absolute truth.”

Memoirs of a Wretched Weekend in Washington The Boston Globe (2/23/1969)★★★★☆
On the eve of Nixon’s inauguration Thompson watched, disappointed, as a protest devolved into a brawl on the marble steps near the Capitol. He did not live long enough to see the new low, protestors storming the Capitol over Trump. Trump.

“They are setting up, right now, in the calm eye of a hurricane … and if they think the winds have died, they are in for a bad shock.”

A Letter From the Emperor by Steve Rasnic Tem ★★★☆☆
Some stories feel true and not for the better. The way Alien made spaceships look like flying corporate dump trucks instead of Star Trek’s noble sleek explorers. Here instead of the friendly cosmopolitan diverse happening universe space is depicted as the lonely far flung place it is.

Memo from the Sports Desk: The So-Called “Jesus Freak” Scare Rolling Stone (9/2/1971) ★★★☆☆
“The future of Christianity is far too fragile,” he said recently, “to be left in the hands of the Christians—especially pros.”

I think this was about religious telemarking, which is an awful thought.

Freak Power in the Rockies Rolling Stone (10/1/1970) ★★★★★
Thompson participated in a grass roots campaign for a far left candidate for Mayor of Aspen and almost won. It inspired him to run for sherif. His platform was ahead of its time, very Solarpunk!

1. “Sod the streets at once. Rip up all city streets with jackhammers... All public movement would be by foot and a fleet of bicycles, maintained by the city police force.”

2. Change the name of Aspen to Fat City: “the main advantage here is that changing the name of the town would have no major effect on the town itself, or on those people who came here because it’s a good place to live. What effect the name-change might have on those who came here to buy low, sell high and then move on is fairly obvious … and eminently desirable. These swine should be fucked, broken and driven across the land.”

3. “Non-profit sales will be viewed as borderline cases, and judged on their merits. But all sales for money-profit will be punished severely. This approach, we feel, will establish a unique and very human ambiance in the Aspen (or Fat City) drug culture...”

4. “Hunting and fishing should be forbidden to all non-residents, with the exception of those who can obtain the signed endorsement of a resident—who will then be legally responsible for any violation or abuse committed by the non-resident he has “signed for.”

5. “The Sheriff and his Deputies should never be armed in public... The whole notion of disarming the police is to lower the level of violence—while guaranteeing, at the same time, a terrible punishment to anyone stupid enough to attempt violence on an un-armed cop.”

Someone needs to take up this banner!
Link: https://www.freakpower.com/freak-powe...

Strange Rumblings in Aztlan Rolling Stone (4/29/1971) ★★★½☆
This was the heavy sad story Thompson was working on while writing Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas for mental relaxation. It was a social justice/police brutality in the barrio story.

“The malignant reality of Ruben Salazar’s death is that he was murdered by angry cops for no reason at all—and that the L. A. sheriffs department was and still is prepared to defend that murder on grounds that it was entirely justified.”

It was a well covered well written article that lack the levity and degenerate humor I enjoy from Thompson. The subject, and lack of justice, brought him down.

Link: https://eastofborneo.org/archives/str...

A Conversation on Ralph Steadman and His Book, America, with Dr. Hunter S. Thompson America (June 1974)
“ED: He seems to be horrified by America.
HST: Yeah. That’s one of the reasons he’s fun to work with – he has a really fine, raw sense of horror.”

All of illustrator Ralph Steadman’s experiences in America have been adventures with Thompson. It has hilariously colored his view.

Wow, high praise!

I’ll take you up on Cocaine Cowboys. I found it on a documentary website.

Jacket Copy for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Previous Unpublished ★★★½☆
This is a background insert for his famous work that was never published but likely will be/is in later reissues. The quotes are epic!

“True Gonzo reporting needs the talents of a master journalist, the eye of an artistphotographer and the heavy balls of an actor. Because the writer must be a participant in the scene, while he’s writing it...”

“As true Gonzo Journalism, this doesn’t work at all—and even if it did, I couldn’t possibly admit it. Only a goddamn lunatic would write a thing like this and then claim it was true.”

“I’ve always considered writing the most hateful kind of work. I suspect it’s a bit like fucking, which is only fun for amateurs. Old whores don’t do much giggling.”

It was a slight letdown to hear how much of it was just his relaxed imagination, a coping mechanism for a sad violent reality. It was a big letdown to know there was no crazy Samoan lawyer.

The Ultimate Freelancer The Distant Drummer (November 1967) ★★★★☆
“Lionel, who lived and died as walking proof that all heads exist alone and at their own risk.”

An obituary to his hard hitting reporter/freelance writer friend Lionel Olay. He is only known now because of his influence on Thompson. The Dark Corners of the Night has yet to be kindled but it has been archived: https://archive.org/details/darkcorne...

Yes it would.

Ooh nice. I started Mental Math, Dog Training, How Great Science Fiction Works, and I want to start 36 Great Women before 1400.

The Temptations of Jean-Claude Killy Scanlan’s Monthly (March 1970) ★★★★★
“Sitting next to DeLorean at the head table were Jean-Claude Killy and O. J. Simpson, the football hero.”

Jean-Claude Killy was an Olympic ski star that at the time had Michael Jordan levels of fame. Sadly, and for unsporting reasons, he is the only one in that sentence I do not know. The article is about Killy’s awkward transition from sporting fame to shilling American products for money. But right beside him pushing Chevrolets is the new number one draft pick and Heisman Trophy winning football player, O.J. Simpson. It was never just one thing with Simpson: race, fame, money, violence, football, lawyers... Infamy. Reading Thompson’s impressions of him at this age was fascinating.

“O. J. is a Black Capitalist in the most basic sense of that term; his business sense is so powerful that he is able to view his blackness as a mere sales factor—a natural intro to the Black Marketplace, where a honky showboat like Killy is doomed from the start.”

Fear and Loathing at the Super Bowl Rolling Stone (2/28/1974) ★★★★☆
“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.”

This story had one tangent too many but in general it was about Super Bowls VII & VIII back when football had just struggled into legitimacy and was making a play to be America’s Game. Thompson paints a picture of contempt for the new boring NFL among his fellow sportswriters who mostly drink and reprint NFL publicity.

“If the Red Chinese invaded tomorrow and banned the game entirely, nobody would really miss it after two or three months. Even now, most of the games are so fucking dull that it’s hard to understand how anybody can even watch them on TV unless they have some money hanging on the point spread..”

There were wild stories mixed with sports history and a dedicated section of love for a wide receiver named Paul Warfield. This is the most about football I’ve ever read, lol.

Link: https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/...