October is busy

Alif the Unseen

I am reading G. Willow Wilson's Alif the Unseen, while listening to Shirley Jackson's creepy We All Lived in the Castle.

Alif has been getting a lot of attention.  So far it's interesting enough.  The setup is a good one- all the reviews cover that.  The setting is a nice change.  But large swaths are kind of lackluster for cyberpunk, with more of a dreamy fantasy pace.  (It combines elements of both.)  It's very heterosexual as well, in the way Oscar Wao is- lots of time in the head of a red-blooded if respectful young man.  The females are worship objects for him at the same time as they are capable smart players in their own right.  It's the loveable geek guy hero thing.  After reading Cory Doctorow recently,  I'm a little tired of that protag/POV...

The Jackson is just creepy.  She's almost too good at that.  Can't listen to it while falling asleep.

Cool!

Quite the find.   Though we don't all have acres of permafrost in the backyard.  What will they think to do with all this rich data...

This (last- post publishing delayed by Virgin/Sprint fail) weekend's Gaylaxicon was quite enjoyable, and much more approachable than I was worried it might be.  They had a meet and greet on Friday night where people seemed to be enjoying themselves and mingling and mixing beyond who they already knew.  I'm shy, so I can't say I was overly outgoing, but met some new people...

The panels were interesting.  I went to a discussion of YA that talked about different books that the usual recent bestsellers, with author Ginn Hale (The Wicked Gentlemen) making some good comments.  My panel went well.  People had some good ideas about why women underattend and what can and can't be done about it.  Kudos to Naomi Krirzer for organizing it last minute.  A panel on writing across genres was lively and interesting food for thought.

The GF busily ran her 10 mile warmup Saturday and then the TC 10 mile race on marathon Sunday, between panels.  There were some big meals interspersed to keep her from eating arms or legs.  Dim sum with a bunch of writers was fun and even had enough vegetarian options for three participants, dim sum being an iffy proposition sometimes.

Now I have a day off and can run tons of errands.  My truck decided to throw the enigine light and I have to decide whether to studiously ignore it while looking for a new car, or not...  Time to get something that doesn't reinjure my leg every time I drive it... 

I may not actually get much accomplished today though.  Already I'm like, "Is it naptime?"  While the dogs are looking at me like it's first walk of the day time.  This does not bode well for productivity.

Sensawunda

That's the thing:

"I think the sense of wonder that science fiction offers is closely related to the feeling of awe that science itself offers."

-from an interview of Ted Chiang 

A story can be good and not evoke this.  It can be very original and still not have that thang.  The thing I go to SF for that other fiction doesn't do.  That's what does seem to be missing lately.  As the critics keep saying, there's a lot of.competent and even great writing out there, but very little that gives that science fiction fix. 

I don't think this about diversity as in representation of more marginal peoples.  I think it's about diversity in terms of interests in different styles of fiction drawing new writers in; some bit of herdishness and magazine core feel and focus drawing more of the same; the very strong influence of TV and movie scifi - which has a very different focus and feel; the difficulty of envisioning nearish futures at the moment without missing something key that's already clearly in motion to other eyes, and the difficulty of optimism that isn't cheerleading and pessimism that isn't dehumanizing and lacking a sense of agency in some important way.  Writing stuff with the SF feel is very hard.  It takes energy, verve, and real research and application of some sense of logic.  Right and left brain work.  I think the other factor is so many people grinding out work to contract and focused on volume.  As the economy sucks and people are stressed and working too hard, and having difficulty seeing the opportunities, the change, and the posibilities vs. the obvious failures.  (SF also takes some mental distance, which can be a flaw.)  All coming together.

Fall camouflage

This weekend Gaylaxicon comes to town.  When did it become October? 

I'm on a panel about "Where are all the women" because Naomi Kritzer asked me to join.  I'm not sure I have any answers, but so far the panel topics aren't particularly intriguing.  I've heard there are always cute boys by the pool, but that's not really a draw for me...  I guess it's a fair question.

Should be a lot of interesting people in one place though.  I'll probably be excited once I'm there... 

There has been a lot of queer-focused SFF popping up lately, but little I've been very excited about.  I read some non-SFF YA I liked tho- Becoming Emily by local author Rachel Gold was a good basic trans teen read.  It managed to depict internal angst and family drama without falling into melodrama or cliches.  Or being pedantic.  Coming out stories are not easy to navigate these days, when it's not all new and silenced yet many teens face silencing, erasure, suppression, lack of information and community, and abuse nonetheless.

Now I'm listening to Elizabeth Hand's Radiant Days, which is technically fantasy but has more of a nostalgic feel really.  Lesbian protagonist in late 70s DC meets Rimbaud through a magical bum's lock house on the C&O canal.  She lays out decent historical DC graffiti writer background, I can say having just researched that, but the white chick protag taking credit for inspiring Disco Dan is whack, if sort of brashly Xenaesque.

I'm also reading lesbian author Carol Anshaw's latest novel, Carry the One.  It's weird and oddly grim and funny at the same time, like all her novels, which is to say I'm liking it so far...

Lynx move on in a squeaker!

One point up, Seattle time out wirh 3 seconds to go.  They all seemed tired, but it was a good game.

C in the sky tonight

Oh lord...  Wasn't that the song?

C in the sky keeps on turnin' I don't know where I'll be tomorrow Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'...

I'm running down that dusty road...

Actually light rail to the Lynx game, hoping they can pull it out to beat Seattle and make it to the finals.