THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
11/03/06 -- Vol. 25, No. 18, Whole Number 1359
El Presidente: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
The Power Behind El Pres: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
Back issues at http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
All comments sent will be assumed authorized for inclusion
unless otherwise noted.
To subscribe, send mail to mtvoid-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To unsubscribe, send mail to mtvoid-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Topics:
Correction to the Correction to THE DEPARTED
Nigel Kneale, RIP (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
The Universe in Six Words
Overheard
Doesn't Anybody Read the Words Any More??? (comments
by Mark R. Leeper)
THE FAMILY TRADE by Charles Stross (book review
by Joe Karpierz)
DNA Topology (letter of comment by Craig E. McMurray)
Various Topics (and Another Artwork Pointer)
(letter of comment by John Purcell)
This Week's Reading (1491: NEW REVELATIONS OF THE AMERICAS
BEFORE COLUMBUS, A SCANNER DARKLY, and
FEELING VERY STRANGE: THE SLIPSTREAM ANTHOLOGY)
(book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Correction to the Correction to THE DEPARTED
The correction last week (regarding the ordering, or lack thereof,
of the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list, was from Dan *Cox*, not Dan
Kimmel. [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Nigel Kneale, RIP (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
One of the great lights of British dramatic science fiction has
died. Nigel Kneale, who wrote the Quatermass plays died this last
week at the age of 84. I hope to have a fuller obituary in next
week's issue. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: The Universe in Six Words
Do you feel you would like to read more science fiction stories,
but just cannot fit them into your busy schedule? WIRED MAGAZINE
has asked popular science fiction/horror/fantasy authors to write
them some very short stories. The stories are to have six words.
How much story can you put into six words?
http://wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/sixwords.html
[-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Overheard
"Carbon dating does not improve your social life."
===================================================================
TOPIC: Doesn't Anybody Read the Words Any More??? (comments by
Mark R. Leeper)
Well, when things were going well for the Democrats in the
upcoming election John Kerry has made what he says was "a joke"
and it has caused a real uproar. It seems to be making national
news. It is being said that Kerry has insulted the intelligence
of the people serving in Iraq. Now Kerry has apologized for the
comment as "a joke that went wrong." The Drudge Report leads off
today (November 2) with a picture that shows some troop in Iraq
holding up a banner reading "Halp Us Jon Carry We R Stuck (c and
k printed backward) in Irak."
I guess I had heard about the uproar before I actually read the
comment he had made and my reaction was that he had said
something really stupid. I was angry with Kerry for insulting
the troops in Iraq. Let me make this clear. I am not a fan of
John Kerry under the best of circumstances. I think he says a
lot of dumb things. In the 2004 I thought he was the second
worst candidate from a major political party and there were
moments when he was the worst. Also I was worried about what
effect this comment might have on the upcoming election. But I
resolved to find out what exactly Kerry had said and to try to
figure out why he would say such a stupid thing.
Well, it did not take long to find it. The quote I read was "if
... you study hard and you do your homework and you make an
effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck
in Iraq." As I sat reading it I felt a certain familiarity on the
comment and I also got a sick feeling in my stomach. But it was
not revulsion for Kerry. I had the sinking feeling that the
whole world was dumbing down with everyone delegating to someone
else his or her ability to think.
First of all, his comment was not very original. I was at the
University of Massachusetts during the Vietnam War. There was an
active draft at that time. It was general knowledge that if you
flunked out you would have one of two fates. You either had to
go home and explain to Mommy and Daddy or you went to military.
Women went home; men went to Vietnam. (Okay, that is another
issue for another day.) It was an acknowledged fact that for
males the deal was that if you studied hard and you did your
homework and you made an effort to be smart, you could do well.
If you didn't, you get stuck in Vietnam. Everybody knew it.
Everybody said it. I am sure John Kerry said it then. That was
the period of his student activism and that had to be where
activist John Kerry picked up this joke. Except it was not so
much a joke as an accepted fact of life. And it certainly was
not intended as an insult to the people who went to fight. There
certainly were some people who were sent to Vietnam as a result
of flunking out, but I don't think anybody considered
acknowledging that a reflection on the American soldier.
Of course we do not have an active draft now. We do have people
flunking out of school ending up in Iraq because the economy is
such that they probably cannot find any better alternatives. For
some, particularly the poor, there is a de facto draft even now.
So look again at what John Kerry said. "If ... you study hard
and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you
can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq." I do not
know who exactly his audience is, but there is some truth in the
comment. Certainly for the people who would not have very good
job prospects that is probably a true statement. We have to
accept that not doing well in school will decrease the breadth of
a person's career prospects or else why would he bother to work
hard in the first place?
But what shocks me is that everybody seems to be accepting that
this observation demeans the men fighting in Iraq. Certainly a
lot of people are reading that other people are jumping to that
conclusion and so are doing so themselves. Everybody seems to be
interpreting the statement as saying that the men fighting in
Iraq are a bunch of school failures. In fact, his statement says
nothing at all about the people in Iraq who are not school
failures. With today's lax grading and much diminished failure
rates, it probably does apply to any more than a small handful of
those serving.
So if the statement was not so bad, why is John Kerry apologizing
for it? Surely he must know if it was an insult or not? Well
public opinion may not really determine the real meaning of a
sentence, but it does determine the success of careers of
politicians. If the general public is determined to be
chuckleheads, the most expedient thing for a politician to do is
to humor them. And right now is one of those times.
What frightens me is that as a people we are losing the ability
to read a sentence and think about what it says. To find out how
other people are reacting and to react the same way is a lot
easier and definitely a lot safer. Comments take on whole new
meanings because some society decides on a false meaning they
should protest. People are letting the mass decide what things
mean and if they should take offense. If the Pope cites a
historical fact you have people murdered because other people do
not want that fact cited. Whether the fact is genuine or not
does not matter any more. It is convenient rallying point to
generate outrage. And we have this same thing in this country.
If John Kerry notes that failing in school increases ones chances
of ending up serving in Iraq he suffers a group-think censure
from people who cannot be bothered to look at the words and
decide if what he said is really insulting and if it is really
true.
So I am going to be brave here and take the unpopular side. OK,
get ready to release your firestorm on me. I RESPECT OUR
FIGHTING MEN AND WOMEN, BUT I ALSO BELIEVE THAT DOING POORLY IN
SCHOOL MAY INCREASE THE PROBABILITY THAT A STUDENT WILL END UP IN
IRAQ. I also believe it may increase the probability that you
will be more willing to be told what a sentence says and less
willing to think. People like that are the real failures and
there are a lot of them out there around the world. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: THE FAMILY TRADE by Charles Stross (copyright 2004, Tor,
$6.99, 308 pp, ISBN 0-765-34821-7) (book review by Joe Karpierz)
THE FAMILY TRADE is something different from Charles Stross. The
other three Stross books that I've reviewed here (SINGULARITY
SKY, IRON SUNRISE, and ACCELERANDO) all have that frenetic, dense
prose characterized by a lot of computer jargon and have a
cyberpunk feel to them. THE FAMILY TRADE does not.
In fact, TRADE's style is much more accessible, easy to read,
and, well, fun. It's not that I don't like those other three
books. To the contrary, if you've read my reviews you know how
much I actually like them. But this is a departure, and it shows
that Stross has more stylistic range than we might have given him
credit for in the past.
TRADE's protagonist is one Miriam Beckstein, a journalist for a
high tech magazine. Miriam and her friend Paulette find
indisputable evidence of a money-laundering scheme. Like any
responsible reporter, she takes the story to her editor, who
promptly fires her on the spot--and she gets death threats to
boot.
Miriam was not raised by her birth mother, who died when Miriam
was still an infant. Instead, she was raised by a foster family
who adopted her. The day of her dismissal, her adoptive mother,
who is in ill health, gives her some of her birth mother's
personal effects, which include a locket which contains a knot-
work pattern. Of course, she stares at it--and is immediately
taken to a parallel Earth--where she finds out that her real
family is in charge of things.
The parallel Earth is strange, to say the least. The royalty
ride on horseback and in carriages, and the police force ride
around carrying automatic weapons and swords. They currently
deal in drugs, and hop to and from our side doing business deals
in order to make money. They have a sort of medieval structure
to society, with royalty and all sorts of strange alliances. And
Miriam just showed up and came into a whole lot of money.
And a whole lot of trouble.
You see, Miriam upsets the delicate balance of things in the
Clan. People want her dead, because by her very presence she is
altering the state of power and riches. She also falls in love,
is the object of a few assassination attempts, and wants to
change how things are done.
Yes, if you haven't gotten there yourself, this story of
alternate reality does invoke memories of Zelazny's "Amber"
books. The main difference is that The Merchant Princes, as the
series is called--yes, it's a series--is not really fantasy,
although it's billed as such, whereas "Amber" was, in my mind,
definitely fantasy.
This is a good book, but it's definitely incomplete. Stross has
just gotten started with the tales of Miriam, and it has the
potential to go on for a good dozen books or so, although I hope
he doesn't take it that far. My recommendation is to read this
book--and then keep going with it. [-jak]
===================================================================
TOPIC: DNA Topology (letter of comment by Craig E. McMurray)
In response to Mark's update on DNA topology in the 10/27/06
issue of the MT VOID, Craig E. McMurray writes:
I "hate" it each time you bring up the DNA topology concern,
because it bothers me, too. Being an electrical engineer, the
biochemistry of this is way over my head, as well.
The last time you did this, I did some research and found that
not everyone believes that the double helix is the proper form of
DNA. There is the "side-by-side" (SBS) model that some have
proposed, which resolves the "unwinding" problem. As a starting
place look at the last section of http://tinyurl.com/yx2h6m [in
Wikipedia].
The easiest way to visualize a SBS configuration is to take the
handset cord of your telephone, fold it back on itself and then
kind of "scrunch" the coils together. (I know the description is
inadequate.) If you do this right, you'll see that the two coils
fit together quite nicely, look sort of like a double helix, and
also separate quite nicely, without any unwinding.
The SBS model might not be correct, but it helps me sleep better
at night and it might help you, too. [-cem]
Mark answers:
Admittedly my first reaction is that the Side-by-Side
configuration does not work. I think to myself that if you
started with one helical strand and then built a parallel strand
with ladder rungs and the second strand built on them, surely the
first strand would pull the second strand around it and you end
up with the classic double-helix. You are back with the problem
you started with.
But, hold on. Maybe that is sloppy thinking that pictures the
second strand wound around the first. Perhaps it is my failure
of imagination.
Now I picture a large metal spring two inches in diameter.
Obviously it is a helix. Now I start welding onto it a bunch of
metal sticks. Each stick is one foot in length. Each stick I
weld on horizontally and parallel to all the others, each
pointing due east. The endpoints of the sticks trace out a new
helix the same size and shape as the old was, one foot east of
the first. I weld the resulting spring on. Further if we now
shrink the rungs uniformly the two springs neatly come together
without colliding because there is only one point on the first
spring at a giving height, and a corresponding one on the second
spring at that same height. These are points that potentially
could have been connected by a rung. If all the rungs are
parallel to each other rather than merely skew that model does
work. So you can have a double helix with the two helices not
wound around each other. At least topologically that works for
me.
That is a much better and more likely model. [-mrl]
Craig responds:
You definitely have the right picture, but it's no longer a
double helix. It is instead something "similar" to a double
helix. In a double helix, each coil has the same central axis.
As you can see from your description, each coil in a SBS
configuration has its own axis, which are parallel, but are
offset from one and other by the length of the "rung". As you
shorten the rungs, the axes do approach one and other, but never
become coincident. [-cem]
Mark replies:
I guess it is a semantic question of what we mean by doubling a
helix. As the rungs get small in my model you definitely have a
helical structure. We can call mine a "two-ply" helix or perhaps
a "TV-ghost" helix. :-) [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Various Topics (and Another Artwork Pointer) (letter of
comment by John Purcell)
John Purcell writes in response to the 10/27/06 issue of the MT
VOID:
Mark, I just want to thank you for that link to the cover art of
URANIA, that long-running science fiction magazine from Italy.
You weren't kidding; some of the artwork is really nice, and
simply skimming through the site is a lot of fun, recognizing
names of authors on the covers. A very cool site. Thanks
again!
[Again, it's at
http://www.mondourania.com/urania/uraniaelencopagine.htm.]
[HOLD THE PRESSES! Holy Cow! You liked that? As I am writing
this comment I just found VISCO. VISCO is a site called the
Visual Index of Science Fiction Cover Art. (Well, who could
pronounce it if they called it VISFCA?) They say on their site,
"You may think that the objective of the Visco project just a
tiny bit ambitious. Its ultimate aim is no less than to collect
and make available over the Internet a cover image of every
science fiction, fantasy, weird and horror magazine ever published
in the English language." They already seem to have have complete
runs of most of the majors like ASTOUNDING/ANALOG, F&SF, going all
the way down to many of the minors. Take a gander at
http://www.sfcovers.net/ and drill down a few levels. I haven't
had time to investigate and explore, but this looks like a *major*
site. -mrl]]
There really isn't much else I feel qualified to comment on in
your ish, but your review of THE PRESTIGE solidifies my intent to
see that film. It sounds like a very intelligent film, which is
almost a rarity nowadays for something coming out of Hollywood.
So this is a highly recommended flick: a 9 out of 10. Good deal.
Another film coming out (December 15th) that my son and I are
looking forward to seeing is ERAGON. I saw the commercial spot
first, ran and told Daniel, whose eyes brightened, and he asked,"
When?" "December 15th," I told him. "We're there," was the
determined response. See, Dan has read that book (he's eleven
years old) and he enjoyed it a great deal. I had heard along the
grapevine awhile ago that it was in film production, and now here
it comes much sooner than I expected. The promos look promising.
We'll have to see how it the whole thing plays out.
Well, I'm going to have another cup of coffee and do some school
work before heading down to TAMU's Chemistry department's Open
House today with Daniel. He gets 100-bonus points for his
science class at school if he attends; we went last year, and it
was a bit of fun for a couple hours. Lots of explosions,
experiments, and fun with science. [-jp]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
1491: NEW REVELATIONS OF THE AMERICAS BEFORE COLUMBUS by Charles
C. Mann (ISBN 1-400-03205-9) sounded promising, but is written in
such a dry style, and structured so poorly, that I could not
finish it. (By poorly structured, I mean that Mann does not
follow any of the rules about having a first and last sentence
that help summarize whatever comes between.) In addition, Mann
has decided to follow new spellings for names in indigenous
languages. So, for example, he uses "Inka" rather than "Inca",
"Atawallpa" rather than "Atahualpa" and "Qosqo" rather than
"Cuzco". This makes everything difficult to follow, but even
worse, he does not cross-reference these in the index, so if you
look up "Cuzco", there is no entry for it *or* pointer to
"Qosqo". (I have no idea why someone decided that "Inca" was
incorrect and should be "Inka" instead; it is not as though they
are pronounced differently.)
Our science fiction discussion book this month was A SCANNER
DARKLY by Philip K. Dick (ISBN 1-400-09690-1). My first
observation is that in 1977, Dick felt it necessary to explain
that a 7-11 grocery store was part of a chain in California. He
also predicted plastic houses by 1994. (He was somewhat more on
target with security guards checking for what is basically
identity theft.) But I must admit I gave up after a hundred
pages, because it seemed basically unreadable.
FEELING VERY STRANGE: THE SLIPSTREAM ANTHOLOGY edited by James
Patrick Kelly and John Kessel (ISBN 1-892391-35-X) appears to be
for slipstream what MIRRORSHADES edited by Bruce Sterling was for
cyberpunk or BLACK WATER edited by Alberto Manguel was for
magical realism: the foundational anthology. And you know an
anthology is good when you find yourself looking forward to
reading even the pieces you have read before. In this case,
these are such classics as Ted Chiang's "Hell Is the Absence of
God", Benjamin Rosenbaum's "Biographical Notes to 'A Discourse on
the Nature of Causality, with Air-Planes'", and Michael Chabon's
"The God of Dark Laughter". The earliest story is from 1972,
though most date between 1987 and the present. (The term
"slipstream" was coined by Bruce Sterling in 1989.)
In the introduction, Kelly and Kessel attempt to define
"slipstream", and in the process list some "precursors" of
slipstream (my comments in parentheses):
- Franz Kafka's "The Penal Colony" (Hey, it's Kafka--what more
does one need to say? This one has more disturbing images
than many, though.)
- Jorge Luis Borges's "The Library of Babel" (Well, I have
probably said enough about Borges that you know I recommend
this.)
- John Collier's "Evening Primrose" (This reminded me a little
of the "Twilight Zone" episode "The After Hours", though it
has major differences. Collier's story was written two
decades earlier.)
- Shirley Jackson's "One Ordinary Day, with Peanuts" (Another
"Twilight Zone"-like episode--maybe slipstream is just another
name for "stories of a Twilight Zone sensibility". It may
also have inspired the notion of "random acts of kindness.")
- Damon Knight's "The Handler" (This is an old science fiction
idea, but with a new take on it. It seems to me that there
was a similar "Twilight Zone" episode, but I cannot come up
with it.)
- Robert Coover's "The Babysitter" (Not read yet--I need to get
this through inter-library loan. However, I have not much
liked the Coover I have read.)
- Fritz Leiber's "The Man Who Made Friends with Electricity"
(Leiber's main character seems to be unaware of Nicola Tesla
when he claims that all major electrical discoveries and
inventors are born American, with long American pedigrees, but
I suspect Leiber was.)
- Donald Barthelme's "Robert Kennedy--Saved from Drowning" (This
left me completely baffled.)
- Thomas M. Disch's "Descending" (This story has stuck with me
for *decades*, although for a long time I mis-remembered it as
being by Damon Knight.)
- Italo Calvino's "The Argentine Ant" (This reminded me of
"Leiningen Versus the Ants" without the testosterone.)
- Barry N. Malzberg's "The Man Who Loved the Midnight Lady"
(Well, I'm a big fan of Malzberg, so this also gets a
recommendation from me.)
They then say, "The ideal version of this anthology would include
such precursors." Well, you can always create a virtual by
seeking these out as well. (Judith Merril must have had a
slipstream sensibility--she anthologized four of these in her
various "best-of" anthologies.) [-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
Life is made up of time.
-- Mark R. Leeper