[This is late due to massive delays at the yahoogroups remailer.]
THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
01/26/07 -- Vol. 25, No. 30, Whole Number 1425
El Presidente: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
The Power Behind El Pres: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
All comments sent will be assumed authorized for inclusion
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Topics:
NPR Sunday Puzzle
Videos Worth Watching
Academy Award Nominations for Fantasy Films
What I Learned from THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN
(comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Analysis of Strategies for Deconstruction of Sandwich
Cookies (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Electronic Travel (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
CHILDREN OF MEN (letter of comment by Fred Lerner)
C.S.A.: THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA (letter
of comment by Per C. Jorgensen)
PAN'S LABYRINTH (letter of comment by Daniel Kimmel)
Kumbha Mela and RIVER OF GODS (letter of comment
by John Sloan)
Numbering, Japanese Films, Kumbha Mela, Jay Leno,
PAN'S LABYRINTH, C.S.A. (letter of comment
by John Purcell)
This Week's Reading (six-word stories)
(book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: NPR Sunday Puzzle
Mark had a puzzle he submitted chosen for NPR's Sunday Puzzle
challenge for January 21. It is too late to submit answers, but
it goes as follows:
Challenge from January 21: Name a famous film director,
whose last name has two syllables. Phonetically these
two syllables sound like words that are opposites of
each other. What are the words and who is the director?
Challenge from Mark Leeper of Old Bridge, New Jersey.
The answer will be given next week. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Videos Worth Watching
Amazing stagecraft:
http://tinyurl.com/yjpvza
"Handmade" Star Wars Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IbV7ad2xgY
===================================================================
TOPIC: Academy Award Nominations for Fantasy Films
PAN'S LABYRINTH (5 nominations): foreign-language film, original
screenplay, art direction, cinematography, original score,
make-up
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST (4 nominations): art
direction, sound editing, sound mixing, visual effects
THE PRESTIGE (2 nominations): art direction, cinematography
CARS (2 nominations): animated feature film, original song ("Our
Town")
CHILDREN OF MEN: editing
SUPERMAN RETURNS: visual effects
THE ILLUSIONIST: cinematography
HAPPY FEET: animated feature film
MONSTER HOUSE: animated feature film
===================================================================
TOPIC: What I Learned from THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (comments
by Mark R. Leeper)
Whenever I get the urge to straighten up the house I watch THE
INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN until the feeling passes. This is the
film in which a man shrinks (no kidding) and becomes trapped in
his own basement. He survives because he had a messy basement
that provided his little self with everything he needed to
survive. You never know when something like that is going to
happen is going to happen to you, I suppose. (I have no way to
predict when it might happen to me, anyway.) This film proves
that the more cluttered your basement the better. You are best
off if you only do enough housekeeping to get rid of the
tarantulas. It is not a good idea to have a cat either, but you
are probably smart enough to know that part already. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Analysis of Strategies for Deconstruction of Sandwich
Cookies (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Let me start this essay with a confession. I play with my food.
It is usually when nobody else can see. But it is playing in
what I consider an enlightened and a time-honored way.
There is a commercial on television showing a boy eating an Oreo
cookie. When a child eats an Oreo he does it in a specific way.
He or she pulls the two chocolate sub-cookies apart and eats the
frosting first. That leaves him with the two chocolate sub-
cookies, which he then eats separately. I have to admit that
under circumstances where it will not lead to a social
embarrassment that is the way that I myself eat any sandwich
cookie. That is the smart way.
>From a structural sense I think that makes perfect sense. The
frosting is the best tasting part of the cookie. By pulling
apart the cookie one gets the most flavor possible from the
frosting. Kids are smart when it comes to sweets. They
understand this. The frosting is the most satisfying part of a
sandwich cookie. It also may be the healthiest way to eat a
sandwich cookie. The consumer (and I literally mean consumer)
gets more flavor out of the cookie by the disassembly method of
eating. A sandwich cookie is really designed to pack its best
part in the interior of the cookie. This is done intentionally
by the producer of the cookie. If the frosting were in a more
accessible place it would rub off onto the wrapping material.
Once the average consumer bites into the cookie and hence breaks
it open some of the frosting does reach the tongue, but it is
still buffered by the bulk of the broken chocolate sub- cookie.
The frosting is really what gives a sandwich cookie most of its
flavor and is probably the least healthy part of the cookie. It
is made predominately of sugar and fat. Yet with Oreo cookie
design little of this frosting comes in contact with the tongue.
Not getting the full satisfaction, the consumer is tempted to eat
more. Dissecting the cookie makes eating it a more satisfying
experience and the consumer is less likely to want a second one.
If the situation is bad with traditional sandwich cookies, it is
even worse with sugar wafers. A sugar wafer is like a sandwich
cookie, but it is generally more layers, alternating wafer with
frosting. This has all the problem of a sandwich cookie and
more. It is a device intended to maximize the amount of frosting
insulated from the tasting facilities. It is mostly frosting,
but the person eating gets only a light hint of the taste of that
indulgent frosting. The person who would want to separate out
the layers to allow more of the frosting to come in contact with
the tongue has two big frustrations waiting: flavor and
structural strength. The chocolate sub-cookies of an Oreo have a
reasonably decent flavor. One might eat one under normal
circumstances. I know of nobody who snacks on unfrosted wafers
for any reason but a religious ceremony. In addition, in spite
of its crosshatched reinforcement, a single thickness of wafer is
actually very weak structurally. A very small amount of pressure
will cause it to break. This makes the process of disassembly a
sugar wafer a very delicate one and one fraught with peril.
One must very gently bite into the top frosting layer with both
the upper and lower teeth. One fastens on the uppermost layer of
wafer and delicately lifts a layer of wafer off the main
structure. Now if there is too much adhesion of frosting the
wafer may not survive this step intact. There is a very real
danger that the stress on the wafer will cause it structural
damage toward the center, leaving the practitioner with half the
wafer in his teeth and half on the cookie. Another common
failure is for the frosting to adhere entirely or in part to the
wafer layer being removed. This leads to a common but unpleasant
condition of having a sheet of wafer frosted on both sides. The
seriousness of this situation will becomes immediately apparent
when one realizes that there may be several layers of wafer
waiting to be disassembled and the common practice is to store
the disassembled pieces in one's hand until ready to eat them all
consecutively.
Most adult practitioners choose not to have the frosting come in
direct contact with the hand for reasons of wanting to avoid
stickiness. Children are less likely to worry about these
frosting-hand contacts in spite of the fact that one can never be
quite certain where their little hands have been. In any case if
the sugar wafer has L layers of wafer it will have at most L-1
layers of frosting. This means that the process, even if it goes
smoothly, will yield at least one layer of unfrosted wafer. This
may be eaten quickly ignoring its lack of flavor, or it may be
discarded. One may then eat the remaining wafers, in the process
of eating them inverting them and placing the plane of frosting
in direct contact with the tongue. I believe the upper front of
the tongue is the best location to be in contact with the
frosting as it is thought to be that location on the tongue most
sensitive to the sweetness of the frosting.
In any case I heartily recommend the disassembly method of
consuming frosted multi-layered cookies and confidently predict
that by the 22nd Century this is how all sandwich cookies will be
consumed. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Electronic Travel (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
I think we are more and more becoming electronic vagabonds for
better or worse.
We went to the Singapore Zoo back in 1990, and there was an
elephant show that we went to see. We were towards the front,
and at one point the elephant took a trunk full of water and I
suggested we needed to move back--quickly! Sure enough, everyone
in the first couple of rows got drenched. And at the Edinburgh
Festival in 1995 we went to something where luckily we had been
warned ahead of time that the first few rows got hit with a water
cannon, so we could be prepared.
And why do we need to be prepared? Well, travelers in the 1950s
and 1960s usually only needed to worry about whether their
watches and possibly cameras were waterproof. (Before then, most
people had nothing that was that water-sensitive.) But by 1990,
people were carrying calculators, electronic watches, Walkmans,
and (of course) cameras. Obviously most visitors to the
Singapore Zoo in 1990 were not carrying cameras--they were local
residents bringing their children for the day. Because if most
people had been carrying cameras, they probably would have posted
a warning. And by 1995, we had palmtop computers to worry about
as well.
And now? Well, on our latest trip, we had palmtop computers, a
cell phone, a DVD player, a CD player (for me), a cassette player
(for Mark), a radio, a GPS, walkie-talkies, a digital camera, and
watches. We do not carry all of these with us all day, and in
Arizona there is not much chance of getting drenched, but there
are other problems, primarily weight. The items themselves are
mostly fairly lightweight (a palmtop computer is about four
ounces), but a couple are somewhat hefty (the portable DVD player
and the GPS). And then there are the cables to connect the DVD
player, the charger for the cell phone, the batteries and charger
for just about everything else, the DVDs, the CDs, the cassettes,
the card reader for downloading from PCs, and so on. By the time
you add it all up, and include a couple of non-electronic
technological items like binoculars, it comes to about twelve or
thirteen pounds. (This does not include Mark's CPAP, which weighs
about ten pounds and takes a separate piece of luggage entirely.)
Now obviously we do not take everything on every trip. (We bring
the DVD player only on trips of a week or more and only if we
expect to have a lot of spare time in the hotel room.) But given
that on trips ten years ago, my entire suitcase weighed only
nineteen pounds, I think I can say that creeping technology is
making travel more complicated. And of course, one is a lot more
concerned about onesself or one's luggage getting wet.
For a lot of trips, I could drop the binoculars, the walkie-
talkies, and the DVD player (and accessories). Using non-
rechargeable batteries saves carrying a charger. Overseas the
cell phone might not work, and the GPS does not at this time have
the maps. But I still feel as though technology is making things
more complicated, not less. [-ecl]
[That is only because we are becoming Type 2 electronic
vagabonds. Type 1 electronic vagabonds never have this problem.
They just sit all day in front of the National Geographic Channel
and their greatest danger to their electronics is that they may
drop the remote in their chip dip. -mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: CHILDREN OF MEN (letter of comment by Fred Lerner)
In response to Mark's review of CHILDREN OF MEN in the 01/12/07
issue of the MT VOID, Fred lerner writes, "A long time ago I read
an SF novel called IMPLOSION, by D.F. Jones I believe, which was
set in a world in which women had stopped having children. Has
anyone read both this and CHILDREN OF MEN? How do they compare?
[-fl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: C.S.A.: THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA (letter of
comment by Per C. Jorgensen)
In response to Evelyn's comments on C.S.A.: THE CONFEDERATE
STATES OF AMERICA in the 01/19/07 issue of the MT VOID, Per C.
Jorgensen writes, "Thanks for the latest MT Void, it was as usual
a good start of the weekend (I usually get it by the end of the
working day, that is, Norwegian time, of course). I agree that
C.S.A. was a surprisingly effective zero-budget movie (of
course, I know some fellow alternate history buffs thought very
little of the alternate timelime, but I was willing to overlook
that). I believe that when it comes to the Jefferson Davis
presidency, he was named provisional president by the Confederate
constitutional assembly in February 1861, but elected to the
presidency in November 1861, and inaugurated in February 1862. So
he was first provisional president, and then regular president
only from 1862 on. I'm not sure what this means for election
years in that timeline." [-pjc]
Mark responds, "I will let Evelyn answer the CSA comments. I
will say that we picked Friday because at work we figured it was
the day people wanted most to lighten up and get ready for the
weekend. It is good to hear that it still has that effect and it
transcends international boundaries (not to mention an ocean)."
[-mrl]
And Evelyn answers, " Wikipedia does indeed confirm that Davis
was elected to a six-year term as president of the Confederacy on
November 6, 1861, so presumably the cycle started then. But it
still doesn't work--if the first election was in 1861, then
elections would all be in odd years (odd years that leave a
remainder of 1 when divided by 6, in specific), so 1880 would not
be an election year--1879 would be." [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: PAN'S LABYRINTH (letter of comment by Daniel Kimmel)
In response to Mark's review of PAN'S LABYRINTH in the 01/19/07
issue of the MT VOID, Dan Kimmel writes, "We disagree on so many
entries in 2006, that I'm pleased that both of you were as
impressed with PAN'S LABYRINTH as I was." [-dk]
Mark replies, "I was a little surprised also, even given our long
history of different tastes. Perhaps I was even more impressed
than you. I should look up your review. But I don't use words
like 'masterpiece' lightly. Del Toro created four interesting
creatures. But the scene that sticks with me is the captain's
swig of whiskey." [-mrl]
Dan continues, "The Boston Society gave it Best Foreign Language
film and my own four-star review came out today. It is, as Mark
noted, an *original*. I got to interview Del Toro back when
MIMIC came out and I was impressed he knew his SF sources. He
explained why he had to open up the Donald A. Wollheim short
story, and it was one that he was very familiar with, not just
some idea he had used for a jumping off point. He obviously
loves genre material and enjoys working with it. His will should
be a most interesting career to watch." [-dk]
Mark notes, "He was a kid roughly when we were and was crazy
about TWILIGHT ZONE and OUTER LIMITS. Interestingly, MIMIC was
his only horror film that went to the multiplexes rather than the
art houses. I would be curious to know why. I think he is the
best horror film director in the world as far I am concerned."
[-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Kumbha Mela and RIVER OF GODS (letter of comment by John
Sloan)
In response to Mark's article about the Kumbha Mela in the
01/19/07 issue of the MT VOID, John Sloan writes, "Just to bring
in an SF element, some time ago I read the British softcover
edition of Ian McDonald's RIVER OF GODS. (I recommend it over
the U.S. edition solely because of the cover art, which I found
spectacular.) It was no doubt the best SF I read that year,
probably the best fiction that year. It is a near future novel
that incorporates many of the elements you mention in your
article, including the man who has held his arm up for twenty
years. I always wonder about the border between reality and
fiction when I read books set in other "real" histories or
cultures, and how many "facts" are safe to carry away. But in
the spirit of the best SF, this book really caused me to think
hard about the role India plays in the future of Western
civilization (such as it is, thinking of Mahatma Gandhi's quote).
[RIVER OF GODS was nominated for a Hugo in 2005, quite an
accomplishment for a novel that at the time of the nominations
had had no American publication. -ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Numbering, Japanese Films, Kumbha Mela, Jay Leno, PAN'S
LABYRINTH, C.S.A. (letter of comment by John Purcell)
In response to the 01/19/07 issue of the MT VOID, John Purcell
writes, "Man, the renumbering of your zine makes your run even
more impressive. Something else. So now it's onward to a few
comments I simply had to make about things in MT VOID. Thanks
for the video links. I am an unabashed sucker for 'Godzilla'
films; he's my hero, what can I say?" [-jp]
Mark responds:
I am also, though on the first series I am not interested
much past the introduction of Ghidorah. After that they got
a little too juvenile. But I enjoyed many of the films in
the second and third series.
If you like "Godzilla" film let me recommend to you the new
"Gamera" films:
GAMERA DAIKAIJ=DB KUCHU KESSEN (1995)
GAMERA 2: REGION SHURAI (1996)
GAMERA 3: IRIS KAKUSEI (1999)
Daiei Studios "Gamera" films were always a lot tackier than
Toho's "Godzilla" films and the series died. In 1995 they
decided to start it again and they are making better Kaiju
films than Toho does. The scripts are better and visually
they are really very nice. I think they took a hint from the
Dr Who writers. They knew the idea of a flying turtle was not
playing well and decided to give a reasonable sci-fi-ish
explanation to rationalize why there should be such a thing.
Toho never had decent scripts after the first film. Daiei
has actual characters. Now notice I am not saying these are
actually good films, but they are not bad. Netflix carries
them, by the way. The best Kaiju film ever was GOJIRA, but
the next three I would claim are these three "Gamera" films.
[-mrl]
John continues, "You're right about that Japanese cartoon being
very reminiscent of Max Fleischer. It certainly looks as if
someone had deliberately tried copying Fleischer's style, tone,
and everything. Interesting to watch. *groan" to that Fibonacci
art gallery joke. I understand it, too, which makes it that much
more painful. Fibonacci jokes must be more popular nowadays
thanks to THE DA VINCI CODE, I suppose." [-jp]
Mark replies, "And I thought you said your eyes burned when I
wrote about mathematics. :-)" [-mrl]
In response to Mark's comments on the Kumbha Mela in the same
isssue, John goes on, "A word of caution for those going to the
Kumbha Mela this year: don't drink the water. Not only that, but
I'd hate to be living down-river from that convergence point.
Whoo-whee!!" [-jp]
Mark responds, "The Ganges was not noticeably polluted when I was
at Varanasi." Evelyn notes, however, that Reuters reports,
"India's holy river Ganges has become so polluted that some Hindu
pilgrims are reported to be refusing to immerse themselves in its
waters in their ritual bathe." [http://tinyurl.com/ywmejo]
[-mrl/ecl]
In response to Pete Brady's comments on Jay Leno in the same
issue, John writes, "A comment about Jay Leno, spawned by Pete
Brady's loc: I will keep this simple. Not only is Jay Leno a
poor stand-up comic, but he is a terrible interviewer. Like Pete
said, Leno interrupts, makes stupid comments, and asks even
stupider questions. The best talk show host who is the best
interviewer is, in my humble opinion, Jon Stewart, although I
totally love the way Stephen Colbert skewers the talk-show host
format. Bland generalities usually irritate me, which is why I
really don't watch much network television anymore." [-jp]
And John concludes with, "Finally, I really have got to see PAN'S
LABYRINTH. From all that I've seen and read about it, the movie
is really awesome. Now I need to keep my eyes out for C.S.A.:
THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA. Alternate history books and
movies seem to be in vogue lately, and this one sounds really
interesting. Shades of Ward Moore's BRING THE JUBILEE." [-jp]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
"Wired" magazine asked almost a hundred science fiction authors
to write six-word stories. In the interests of giving people a
better chance of having time to read all the nominees for the
Hugo for Best Short Story, I figured I would review some of them,
in hopes that the better ones might get nominated. My comments
are in brackets.
[There is a copyright problem here: how can one quote just part of
a six-word story? I figure I am entitled to quote a single word--
the first. I have also tried to limit each author to only one or
maybe two stories--some sent in several--so the first word (or for
a few, an interior word) and the author's name should be
sufficient to identify the stories. The full article and all the
stories, complete, can be found at
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/sixwords.html.]
Computer, ...
- Eileen Gunn
[This is concise and to the point.]
Osama's ...
- Charles Stross
[I initially read this as "Obama's time machine", which is also a
science fiction story, albeit of a different sort.]
Internet ...
- Charles Stross
[This is similar to, but somehow not as good as, Gunn's. I think
it is the whole "unfinished sentence" thing.]
It's ...
- Rockne S. O'Bannon
Steve ...
- Steven Meretzky
[After a while, these unfinished sentences seem like cheating.
(Note: I have somewhat re-arranged these stories. These three
were not consecutive.)]
Automobile ...
- Stan Lee
[This seems more like reality than science fiction. Then again,
I think "Wired" included horror in the scope.]
Machine. ...
- Alan Moore
[This is an old idea--I was pretty sure I have seen this before.
I had thought it was a Wiliam Tenn story, but in fact, it was
Fredric Brown's "The End".]
whorl. ...
- Darren Aronofsky and Ari Handel
[Ditto.]
Longed ...
- Margaret Atwood
[Atwood is right--she is not writing science fiction. There
seemed to be a lot of this sort of story.]
Corpse ...
- Margaret Atwood
[Okay, this is at least reminiscent of Larry Niven, though it
seems more urban legend.]
Starlet ...
- Margaret Atwood
[I think we finally have a definite science fiction story from
Atwood.]
I'm ...
- Stephen Baxter
[This seems a very gentle humanistic science fiction story.]
He ...
- Steven Meretzky
[In spite of the fact that this has occasionally happened by
mistake in real life, it still has a very science-fictional
feel.]
... pregnant!
- Rudy Rucker
[This is both science fiction and horror.]
... skyscrapers ...
- Gregory Maguire
[I suppose this suggests a sort of magical realist world in which
the people who jumped from the Twin Towers were able to fly
safely to earth.]
Epitaph: ...
- Vernor Vinge
[This is more like a message than a story.]
... cost ...
- Bruce Sterling
[This sounds like a blurb for one of his books.]
1940: ...
- Michael Moorcock
[Yes, it is alternate history, but not very likely.]
Lie ...
- Richard Powers
[This sounds like a response to James Morrow's (Hugo-nominated)
"City of Truth", but without any justification for the
conclusion.]
... blood ...
- Orson Scott Card
[This seems inspired by the same mode of thinking that leads
people to write "human" when asked their race on forms.]
H-bombs ...
- Howard Waldrop
[Someone once said that if the movie THE DAY AFTER was accurate,
it would have been, "Introduce the characters, drop the bomb, pan
the crater, roll the credits." Waldrop makes it even shorter.]
Rained, ...
- Howard Waldrop
[This is similar to the previous one, with a touch of
J. G. Ballard thrown in.]
... humankind ...
- Ben Bova
Nevertheless, ...
- James P. Blaylock
[These were widely separated in the article, but seem to go
together.]
TIME ...
- Harry Harrison
[H. G. Wells did this first, but Harrison has a certain
conciseness.]
Tick ...
- Neal Stephenson
[This is science fiction?]
Batman ...
- Cory Doctorow
[I thought that Batman had designed the Batsignal and told them
to use it, but apparently in some of the stories it was
Commissioner Gordon's invention. I doubt that the symbol of a
generic bat could be trademarked after the fact.]
Sum ...
- Charles Stross
[Clearly patent and trademark law is on at least some authors'
minds.]
Heaven ...
- Robert Jordan
[George Carlin had a slightly longer version of this in a comedy
routine many years ago: "Rocks fall from the sky! Earth in
flames! Details at 11, but first: Is your pet psychic?"
Dinosaurs ...
- David Brin
[If they are physically present, what do they need the oil for?
Assuming, of course, that Brin intends us to think that oil is
dead dinosaurs. I think it is considered that oil is primarily
the product of decaying vegetation. There is also the abiotic
theory, which says that oil is not a product of dead dinosaurs or
tress, but is constantly being produced in the earth.]
Temporal ...
- David Brin
[Somehow, I do not consider summarizing a classic science fiction
story in six words the same as writing a six-word science fiction
story.]
Mozilla ...
- Charles Stross
[There were other "techie-humor" sorts of stories. This may have
been the best, but it is still pretty weak.]
Will ...
- Ken MacLeod
[This is distressingly like those stories consisting of authors'
letters to publishers and vice versa.]
Clones ...
- Paul Di Filippo
[I do not think clones will be denied rights, any more than
"test-tube babies" are now. However, I probably should not
underestimate the power of human stupidity.]
MUD ...
- Paul Di Filippo
[I only vaguely know what "MUD" means, so I am obviously not the
target audience.]
Warskiing; ...
- Howard Waldrop
[Admittedy sometimes Waldrop can be hard to understand, but here
he has achieved a new pinnacle of achievement: complete
bafflement in six words.]
Salinger ...
- Howard Waldrop
[This is back to a more normal level of bafflement. Waldrop
loves to use literary figures in his stories, and if I were
familiar with Salinger this would probably be more meaningful.]
I ...
- Steven Meretzky
[This reminds me of the story about the man who could not buy
life insurance ("Prototaph" by Keith Laumer).]
Leia: ...
- Steven Meretzky
[This is *not* going to be an official part of the "Star Wars"
mythos!]
And now a couple of separate categories:
Sam Goldwyn said, "If you want to send a message, call Western
Union." Not everyone listened:
K.I.A. ...
- Richard K. Morgan
Bush ...
- William Gibson
Three ...
- Graeme Gibson
Democracy ...
- David Brin
Parallel ...
- Steven Meretzky
On the other hand, the following is the first Le Guin in a long
time without an agenda.
Easy. ...
- Ursula K. Le Guin
Gregory Maguire decided to go self-referential with four of his:
Finally, ...
There ...
In ...
Commas, ...
And there you have it: dozens of short stories to consider that
won't make Hugo reading lists unmanageably long. Alas, this
technique only works at the short story level.
[-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
Music is essentially useless, as is life.
-- George Santayana