Tom > Recent Status Updates

I demand that Martha Well's next book actually be the plot of the future hit soap opera SANCTUARY MOON.

So I'm reading a book about bees. And it's really fascinating.

Guys, this book is far and away the best original fantasy novel I've read in ages and I'm only halfway through. Big review to come.

This book is already crazy and I'm still in the introduction. #excited

In 1979 conservatives took over at the SBC. In 1980 Reagan beats Jimmy Carter with the help of the 'New Right'. Abortion, homosexuality, and the deficit become key topics for most conservatives. Things are starting to look more recognizable!

Of course the big controversy over gay rights at the time was not gay marriage. Conservatives opposed openly gay ppl being allowed to teach in school. That's... terrible.

Apparently in the 1970s up was down and black was white. Southern Baptists early on were moderate supporters of abortion, even adopting a resolution at the 1971 Southern Baptist Convention supporting abortion for health reasons and in case if rape. At the same time while gov of California Ronald Reagan signed an abortion legalization bill into law. Can you imagine that happening today??

Another big nemesis of the Christian Right in the early days? Catholics. Ohhh how they hated those Catholics. They feared if America elected a catholic pres that he'd be taking marching orders from the pope in no time. :-P

A lot of familiar names in this narrative: Jerry Falwell, Bob Jones (jr & sr), Tim Le Hay (yes, THAT guy) and others. But the big one was Billy Graham. I had no idea that he was so instrumental in the birth of the modern evangelical movement. Or that he was so politically active. In later years he mostly stayed out of politics, but early on he was tight with Eisenhower * practically a political operative for Nixon.

It's fascinating to read about the issues that really exercised churches in the past. Drinking, dancing, short hair - horrors! But the #1 thing that got them fired up from the late 40s to the 60s, was Communism. Both fundamentalists & evangelicals considered Communism to be evil & immoral. Anti-communism was not a political stance, but a moral one. The USSR was Satan. This was preached from pulpits across the US.

Obvs its only in recent years that the Religious Right has become so politically powerful. Williams says that the reason is that thru the 1960s, conservative Christians were factionalized. There were the Fundamentalists, who desegregation, and then there were the moderate Evangelicals who supported it. It wasn't until the 70s when the civil rights issue was fading into the rear view that the groups came together.

What are the origins of the American religious right? Members of the religious right will usually tell you that it organized in response to the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. Opponents claim it actually began to protest school desegregation. Daniel Williams says they're both wrong - the religious right as a politically active force has existed for a long time, going back at least to the 1920's.

This is really, really good.

Stross keeps referring to the 'slow money' in this book as bitcoins, then talking about banks. I don't think he knows what Bitcoin is.

In other news, this book has really bogged down.

Space pirate invader: "Resistance be futile!"

Me: Seriously author?!?

It's a relief to be reading a book where the author actually deigns to explain his world building.

I've decided to stop here, for now, since I've finished book one. I was looking to read some grand scale sci fi, not a confusing four volume metatextual experiment. Perhaps I'll come back to this at some point. We'll see.

OK, I'm sorry but... what the HELL is going on with this book?!?

I'm all for complex narratives and I'm willing, as a reader, to do a lot of work. But I'm rapidly reaching the limits of my patience here. As a reader I'm willing to do a lot of work, but it's starting to feel like the author is just screwing around here. And possibly laughing about it.

Today I learned: US intelligence MK Ultra mind control experiments had their Genesis with a Nazi doctor testing mescaline on prisoners at Dachau.

I'll bet you're wondering if the Nazis did experiments on concentration camp prisoners to try and create a super drug for their soldiers.

Of course they did.

Hitler began demanding cocaine from his new favorite physician to the degree that the man started resisting his demands. But he was the Fuehrer so he ultimately got his way. In October 1944 Hitler was given such a high dose that he passed out. That's right, Adolf Hitler nearly OD'd on cocaine.

After Operation Valkyrie, the assassination attempt on Hitler, Der Fuehrer had two separate physicians treating him. One was giving him regular hydrocodone injections, the other was giving him pure cocaine!

Only 38%? Getting near the end of the war. What percentage of this book is footnotes?!?

"When the Reich aviation minister [Goering] and his Generalluftzeugmeister talked together, they liked to reminisce about the good old days, when they had fought aerial battles together in the First World War, high on cocaine."

"...the adversaries watched each other, motionless, for months. No one wanted to fight. The shock of the First World War, with millions of soldiers slaughtered, was still lodged in the memory. Banners were hung at the front lines: “We won’t shoot unless you shoot first.”"

I've been interested in this book since it was announced but I was actually skeptical that Hitler and the third Reich were basically all on drugs. I thought there might be a danger of cherry picking evidence and jumping to conclusions. But this book is HEAVILY foot noted. This is not a scatter shot argument. I'm already pretty convinced. The Nazis were hopped up on coke and meth, man!

Oh my goodness, this was an actual song in Germany in the 20's!

"And if we snort ourselves to death
Or into the asylum,
Our days are going downhill fast—
How better to beguile ’em?
Europe’s a madhouse anyway,
No need for genuflecting;
The only way to Paradise Is snorting and injecting!"

So far this is FASCINATING. It is, by the way, not silly at all, despite the subtitle. The author is on a serious quest to find out what cultural or sociological factors contribute to the weird diversity of maladies around the world. Western maladies do not get a pass, including many we take for granted as having a solid medical basis. Really excited to see where this is going.

The author likes the word Facts. "The Periodic Table contains a great number of facts." Why not use the word 'information'? Surely it more nimbly conveys the idea?

So far this is like reading a Ted Talk stretched out to book length.

Hmm. So it turns out this is one of those dreaded 'epistolary' novels. In this case most of the story is relayed through interviews with the characters. Good thing all the characters are apparently English majors who are very open with their feelings!