Monday, June 30, 2008

Robert Silverberg

This is an author who has not come up in any of our meetings but he is a writer that I have enjoyed several times. He wrote a great book called Lord Valentine's Castle. It's fantasy/science fiction adventure novel set on an alien world where sentient aliens stand in for fantasy creatures and advanced technology stands in for magic. I never read any of the sequels though. I'm not sure why. I think because the book was so good I felt it stood alone so well that it didn't need sequels? Something like that.

He's interesting because he straddles a couple of different eras of SF. He was there with the classic old pulp writers and he helped expand SF in the new wave of the sixties. That comes out in the nice interview with him here.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

This is what i read in the meeting from Paris 2005; A novel of suspense. (This is not all of it, but this is the best part.)
"The venison was delicious,pink inside and puent with gamey flavor, graced by a few string beans. The wine was extraordinary, its round, dark taste almost too strong for her, but it matched the venison. It was a man's meal.
 They finished the bottle withsome heavy yellow cheese, Tomme de Savoie. Valerie wiped her lips with the linen napkin.
'I want to sleep with you,' She said.
He looked down at the last of the wine in his glass.
'Someday, when the Revolution is over, I will be able to live again with my wife and son.'
'Let me love you. You will not be the first that i have loved and lost.'
 He looked at her, his eyes steady and sad. 'I am responsible for you.'
'Yes'
'I might need to ask you to die for me.'
She nodded.
'Or, not even ask.'
'I understand.'
She stood up. 'Is this the bedroom?'
'Yes... So, I am seduced.'"
Right here I'm going to leave out most of this, so the blog won't be flagged or anything, but i will say this "He was gentel and efficien..." Hmmmm, I have no idea (hint hint) what that means, and i urge you not to guess either. Contenuing.
"They woke early. He scrambled eggs for her and made taost in an old-fashioned toaster with flat metal sides that folded away from the heating element. He gave her fresh oranges to squeeze for juice and had to show her how; in her family, they had never squeezd fresh oranges. The coffee was hot and strong, with heavy cream floating at the top.
 'You wil corrupt me with toast and orange juice.' she told him, smiling."
And ther you have iit. Enjoy.
Last meeting's minutes/  important facts.
Who was there: Natalie, Mich, Jake, Claire, Lauren, Meghan, Grace, Matthew, Ed, And new member Jamie.
We have a new member, Jamie. Matthew read condensed versions of famous literature. Ed recited a poem that e wrote in 1992, which was published. Mich read a passage from Paradise Lost. Natalie read a section from her vampire story. Jake and Mitch both read "romance" passages from their books, which were quite wierd and hilarious. Ed had us do an exercise were we had to write a sotry like the ones in Mitch's and Jake's books. Claire, Meghan, and Lauren all came in late, but Megahn and Lauren brought in bread and cheese for everyone to share, so they're ok, and Claire was working, so she's excused. Mitch won the exercise, with Jamie and Ed tied in second and close. That's the minutes by Jake Raynor.*

*please note any spelling errors and comment on them, if you have and questons or concerns, please let me know.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Robert Sawyer Lecture on SF

I found this lecture on Robert Sawyer's website. It's an excellent analysis of what makes good and bad science fiction. I highly recommend giving it a listen.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

PASS-AROUND STORIES

These made just a little more sense than last meeting's. Kudos once again to our resident perverse minds for not adding eyeless people.

The one Matthew started:
She grasped it firmly, yet efficiently, and (injoke!!11!)
turned on the shower.
The shower was very hot.
She threw her head back and moved her hand for a more secure grasp. (Officially the most perverted meeting ever, by the way.)
Grime, dull like the patina of sin
dripped
down her calves
The dirt swarmed around her on the floor of the shower. (What had this girl been doing?)
She turned the heat up on the shower head. Seeing the steam swarm around her.
She tried to organize her thoughts and feelings.
And failed . Because the shower was that epic. (Sorry, there's no underline option on this typer-majig.)

AND the story that I started (best for last):
In a dark alley, Spiderman stands motionless. Far above his head, a brick dislodges...and tumbles downward...
Spiderman reaches out his arm to casually catch it, when a speeding car bounces over the curb and hits him in the chest. MJ yelps.
"No problem," said Spiderman from underneath the car. It'll take more than a Dodge Charger (?) to take me out." "Oh, Spidey," said MJ, "I'm the luckiest girl in the whole world."
Then the brick, which had been dislodged from Spidey's hand when the car hit, bounced off the building and cracked open MJ's head.
"Oh no!" Spiderman said. "I don't have a girlfriend anymore! This is horrible!" He angsted for approximately twenty seconds. Suddenly, Harry Osborne (Osbourne?) walked by. "Hey Spiderman!" Harry said, "Wanna make out?" Spiderman paused, reflecting on his newly-dead girlfriend. "Yeah, OK!"
And in the next state, a taxman's pencil snapped.
"What the hell is this?" Taxman, aka Shithead (pronounced "Shih-theed", you immature people.) "This crap makes no sense! I want to make out with Spiderman, dammit!"
Just then the door burst open, and Spiderman and Harry Osborne came walking in hand in hand. Spiderman was wearing a pink sleeveless costume.
Taxman stared. And stared. And stared. Then decided to purchase his own pink costume and become a super villain in order to make out with Spiderman and Spiderman's large, pink muscles.

That was epic, bees or no. Really, when did the idea that you need bees to be epic come about? (But that does qualify Ros and Guil are Dead as epic: Hamlet, the sexiest bee!)

I urge people to post their horrible romance novel passages on the blog. Do it. Now.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Reading

Before I get into what I wanted to write about I want to remind everyone that we are meeting this Thursday at six pm at the Morrison Library's conference. Everyone better show up because I am on vacation this week and I am coming in Thursday just for the meeting.

As far as that internet messing up our reading skills I do have to say that I do find that I often will print out an article if I want to give it a good reading. Especially at work. I think it's nice that the library doesn't limit our surfing. I find that surfing community blogs like Metafilter and Lifehacker and news sites like New York Times and the Charlotte Observer help me at work. You never know what is going to come at you at the reference desk and you have to be informed and know how to move around the internet.

I did find an excellent post about research habits on the internet here by Scott Karp. He is quoted in that article about the possibility of Google making us stupid. Like Nicholas Carr said in his article about research and reading on the internet we do tend to skim when we read on the internet but, as Karp points out, that is not a bad thing. I think the two styles of reading can live side by side. I skim over internet articles and I'll read some of them closely. I still sit back with a book and let it carry me away.

In some ways the internet can be like television with sites like Youtube out there that allow you to mindlessly watch videos of hillbillies jumping motorcycles over flaming barrels but there are also some pretty amazing and creative videos on Youtube. To me the internet is like any kind of media. It offers the worst and best of what humans have created. It's up to you use it wisely. There is nothing wrong with watching a guy jump a mountain bike into the side of a building but it's not what you want to do with all your time.

I don't want to leave you that. Check out this this video of Donald Hall and Alicia Ostriker. It's about what it means to write and read.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

...our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts

According to Nicholas Carr Nietzsche said that. The article I linked to is in the current issue of the Atlantic Monthly and in it Carr ponders what it means for our minds now that we rely so much on the Internet for our research. Diane Rehm recently did a show on a similar topic.

What struck me early in my reading of the article is Carr's admission that he has a hard time getting into deep reading mode. I noticed that in myself but I hadn't thought to ask around of my readin' friends if they were having the same problem. As a TV raised child of the 70's it took me a while to become a good reader. I don't want to the internet to ruin me as a reader.

Monday, June 09, 2008

Cory Doctorow

For those of you that are interested, SF writer Cory Doctorow writes a column for the British newspaper The Guardian. You can view it here.

Hey Jake, where's that story about our meeting?

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

A SF writing workshop for teens

Check it out here. It sounds pretty interesting. You collaborate on creating a fictional world and it's just down the street in Spartanburg, SC.