Some Quotes from Audacity of Hope

[ Happy Mood: Happy ]
I have just finished Barak Obama’s The Audacity of Hope and I will do a quick reveiw later. Right now I want to capture some of the quotes that made me pause and think.

"All the money in the world won’t boost student achievement if parents make no effort to instill in their children the values of hard work and delayed gratification. But when we as a society pretend that poor children will fulfill their potential in dilapidated, unsafe schools with outdated equipment and teachers who aren’t trained in the subjects they teach, we are perpetrating, a lie on these children, and on ourselves."

"Justice Louis Brandeis once said: that in a democracy, the most important office is the office of citizen."

About the Right wanting the law to restrict gay marriage.
"I find such a position troublesome, particularly in a society in which Christian men and women have been known to engage in adultery or other violations of their faith without civil penalty."

On race and the inequalities in America
"The danger will come if we fail to recognize the humanity of Cristina and her family – if we withhold from them the rights and opportunities that we take for granted and tolerate the hypocrisy of a servant class in our midst;"

"America’s early leaders cautioned against idealistic attempts to export our way of life; according to John Quincy Adams, America should not go ‘abroad in search of monsters to destroy’ nor ‘become the dictatress of the world."

Speaking of Armadillocon…

Armadillocon XXX with Guest of Honor John Scalzi and Special Guest Joe Haldeman starts today. As usual I’m on several panels.

    Interstitial Fiction
    Fri 9:00 PM-10:00 PM deZavala
    Denton, Klaw, Person, Richerson, Trimm*
    A lot of recent fiction falls between the cracks of genre. There have been anthologies devoted to it, and now there is the Interstitial Arts Foundation. The most recent Nebula-winning novel falls into this category. What are the essential works and authors, and is this a full-fledged literary movement?
    What You Should Have Read
    Sat 2:00 PM-3:00 PM deWitt
    Dimond*, Hevelin, Klaw, Marin, W. Siros, S. Williams
    Our distinguished panel of writers, editors, and book-sellers discuss their take on the most important, influential, and enjoyable books and stories of the year.

    Reading
    Sat 6:30 PM-7:00 PM Robertson
    Rick Klaw
    Metafiction in Comics
    Sat 9:00 PM-10:00 PM deZavala
    Benjamin, Blaschke, Klaw*, Porter, Potter
    Metafiction has a long and rich history in comic books and graphic novels. Recent works such as Dr. 13, Nextwave, Scott Pilgrim and Ambush Bug have ushered in a new era for this insightful and entertaining storytelling method. What are some of the best examples, why do writers & artists use this method, and why has it become so popular?

    Movies
    Sun Noon-1:00 PM deWitt
    Klaw, Leicht, Miles, Scalzi, Person, M. Williams*
    This has been a booming year for science fiction, comic book, and fantasy movies. Our panelists tell us which ones you should have seen, and which you can safely avoid. Of course, they’ll probably talk about movies of the past as well.
    Autographing
    Sun 2:00 PM-3:00 PM Dealers’ Room
    Anderson, Klaw

RevSF editors (past and present) Matthew Bey, Jayme Lynn Blaschke, Mark Finn, Alan Porter and Steve Wilson will also be there. Stop by and say howdy!

Speaking of Armadillocon… was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

Club Dead – A Quick Review

[ Amused Mood: Amused ]
[ Currently: Guess ]
I like it when an author is willing to shake things up in an ongoing series. It keeps the sreies fresh. Don’t do it and you in danger of becoming Janet Evanovich or Murder She Wrote.

So when I read book three of the Sookie Sackhouse series I was pleasantly surprised. Sookie’s boyfriend, Bill the vampire, has disappeared and she is asked to find him. In doing so, she discovers that he may have been cheating her. Sookie channels her anger into looking for him and flirting with a werewolf. In addition she fends off the advances of Eric, the master vampire of the area.

Good stuff, and the ending shows the strength of character that Sookie must have to be attractive to so many men.

Article about Armadillocon

I am quoted in Richard Whittaker’s excellent Austin Chronicle article about Armadillocon‘s 30th anniversary.

Quote:
For editor/columnist/publishing polymath Rick Klaw, back as a panelist for his 14th year, it’s the presence of highly literary writers like Haldeman, Lansdale, and Crider that makes this event important. “One of the strengths of ArmadilloCon has always been that it’s three fans to every pro, so the pros feel a lot more comfortable,” he said. “You have a chance to sit down and talk about whatever projects you’re working on. As an editor, you can sit down to talk about working with newer writers. As a new writer, you get to meet these people. It enables you to get nearer to the fans.” At the bigger conventions, he adds, “it’s all about promoting whatever you’ve done. This, you’re talking about what you’re going to do.”

Article about Armadillocon was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1 – AQR

[ Silly Mood: Silly ]
[ Currently: Breastfeeding my son ]
I will admit now that I had never read this coomic before. I managed to secure a copy of this graphic novel from the Biblio.

Wow!

It is rare you come across something so breath-takingly original. Yes, the concept reads like a bad fanfic story, but it works. By dipping into characters that are familiar, yet distant, Moore is able to quickly build a mythos that we buy into. (I particularly enjoyed a panel with a previous incarnation of the League.)

The characters are rich and illustrations evoke the Victorian era. I love, love, love the litlle "tune in tomorrow" blurbs at the end of each episode. They are reminiscent of the penny dreadful novels of the Victorian era.

I have already requested number two. I am a fan.

Bigfoot Trackers Claim They’ve Found Their Prey

I’m a little dubious…

Quote:
PALO ALTO, Calif. — It’s more than 7-feet tall. Weighs over 500 pounds and walked upright — three “Bigfoot” seekers, including a Redwood City man, Wednesday claimed they have proof that they have found the body of the elusive creature in the wilds of Georgia.

And on Friday, at a news conference in Palo Alto, they say they will present DNA evidence to prove the carcass of “Rickmat” is that of a bigfoot.

Soon after the publication of my anthology The Big Bigfoot Book, I was flooded with letters, cards, and clippings making much the same claims as described above.

(Thanks to Mark London Williams for sharing this with me.)

Bigfoot Trackers Claim They’ve Found Their Prey was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

How to Get Published and Avoid Alien Bloodsuckers

Lore Sjöberg in his excellent Alt Text blog offers up some helpful advice to new writers in the internet age.

Quote:
Scammers can smell fear, and to them it smells like the still-living flesh strips that make up most of their diet. A lot of aspiring writers see publishers and agents as bored nobility, offering contracts in a whimsical attempt to inject some entertainment into an otherwise tedious existence. They suspect that even putting too long a delay between “yes” and “please” will cause the contract to be withdrawn and fed to a purebred Saluki.

Quote:
Now, even if the editor initially appears to be a mammal, it’s still possible to get scammed. There’s a wonderful rule of thumb known as Yog’s Law: “Money flows toward the writer.”

I know that in a world filled with kickbacks and graft, this seems too good to be true. It seems perfectly logical that you might have to spread around some cash, grease some palms and lubricate the chassis of commerce with some crude currency in order to make publishing run smoothly. Scammers leap on this misapprehension like a cat on cantaloupe.

A cat on cantaloupe?

How to Get Published and Avoid Alien Bloodsuckers was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

The Outlaw Demon Wails – A Quick Review

[ Sleepy Mood: Sleepy ]
[ Currently: Waiting for breakfast ]
For a Few Demons More finds our heroine, Rachel Morgan dealing with the aftermath of Kisten’s death, as well as visits from Al, the demon who she had imprisoned at the end of the last book. The authorities think she is summoning demons, so she needs to find out who is before they close in. There’s a new vampire boss running things and he is more than just a little interested in Ivy and Rachel’s relationship. Twist into that Trent wanting her to go into the Everafter to get a piece of Elven DNA, and you have a mess of biblical proportions.

Kim Harrison has created an amazing alternate history with her Hollows series. Rachel is a gutsy, believable heroine. The secondary characters are rich and three-dimentional.

Harrison is not an author who is afraid to shake things up, kill charaters off or flip charaters’ allegiences. This book gives us an insight into Rachel’s family history and what exactly Trent’s dad did to her DNA when she was a child. It also sets up a couple of upcoming plotlines for future novels.

This one is worth the effort. Go get it.

Isaac Hayes, 1942-2008

[ Listening to Shaft theme!Currently: Listening to Shaft theme! ]
I toyed with the idea of writing a piece about Isaac Hayes and what his death meant to me, but after reading Leon’s Spill post, whatever I had to say would sound trivial.

Quote:
Isaac Hayes was Black Moses.
He was Truck Turner.
Gandolph Fitch
The Duke of New York
Chef.

Isaac Hayes was my hero.

Quote:
I blew it on my first chance to see him. At the Million Man March and I was so busy staring at M.C.Hammer that I didn’t know that Isaac Hayes was standing less than 50ft. behind me until my friends came up and told me later.

In 2001 I drove to Dallas and paid the $5 entry fee for the Nokia-sponsored ‘New Age Festival’ to watch him perform outdoors in front of a full crowd of hipster 20-somethings that only knew him as “Chef” from South Park and probably got most of his songs confused with Barry White’s. It was still a great show even with having the Nokia Employee Band (which I heckled) as opening act.

I was with Leon at that Noika show. A memorable evening.

Leon even exposes the unique Mike Judge-Isaac Hayes-South Park relationship.

Quote:
One of the things I bonded with Mike Judge over was our mutual man-crush on Isaac Hayes. It was he that introduced Hayes to Trey Parker and Matt Stone after having him sing the theme to Beavis & Butthead Do America.

The unique and amazing talent Isaac Hayes will be missed and never replicated.

Thanks to my buddy Leon for the excellent tribute and putting what many of us were feeling and thinking into words.

Quote:
You see this cat Shaft is a bad mother–
(Shut your mouth)
But I’m talkin’ about Shaft
(Then we can dig it)

He’s a complicated man
But no one understands him but his woman
(John Shaft)

Isaac Hayes, 1942-2008 was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

Michael Moorcock names his top 10 science fiction novels

Legendary author Michael Moorcock was asked backed in 2001 by the Guardian to list his ten favorite science fiction books.

Quote:
“I would guess that, Wells, Ballard and Aldiss aside, I only have about 10 SF novels I really like. Most SF is fundamentally retrospective, like modern politics. Big spaceships have an immediate soporific effect (the first time I fell asleep in 2001 I was with an amiable Arthur Clarke!) So, if you haven’t read any SF, this list might suit you. Few of these books make any mention of spaceships, but they’re all by substantial writers and most have a characteristic elegaic note inherited from the likes of Shelley and Wells.”

Intriguing list that begins with Brian Aldiss’ Greybeard and culminates with one of my all time favorite books The Exploits of Engelbrecht by Maurice Richardson.

Quote:
10. The Exploits of Engelbrecht by Maurice Richardson
While not actually SF, this was such an enthusiasm of mine, Ballard’s and several others that it deserves inclusion. Richardson certainly knew his science, his literature and his surrealism. If you do not know the Surrealist Sporting Club, The Day We Played Mars and the Night of the Great Witch Shoot (illustrated by Searle, Hoffnung and Boswell in a superior edition) you do not know English literature.

(Thanks to the ever helpful Matt Staggs)

Michael Moorcock names his top 10 science fiction novels was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon